bridgetown, barbados (cmc)
THE WEST INDIES Cricket Board (WICB) yesterday expressed surprise over the Indian cricket board's desire to change the schedule for the upcoming tour later this year.
Speaking from his office in Antigua, Roger Brathwaite, the WICB's chief executive said he was not in receipt of any information from the Indian authorities about a request for a change.
"I have no knowledge of any request for a change," Brathwaite said.
"I'm hearing about it for the first time. Last year we sent them an itinerary and asked if they had any request for adjustments that they be communicated to us in writing. We did not receive any request and we went ahead and published the information that we had."
The West Indies circulated the details on the tour in October last year.
"We have put all the necessary systems in place (for four Tests) and it's extremely difficult to make changes now," Brathwaite said. "It's a bit hard to make adjustments now."
India are scheduled to begin a tour of the Caribbean on May 15, where they will play four Tests and five One-Day Internationals.
Shashank Manohar, head of the Indian cricket board's fixtures panel, was quoted as saying in a report that India was requesting the WICB scale down the tour to three Tests.
The four Tests are slated for the Antigua Recreation Ground; Beausejour, St Lucia; Sabina Park, Jamaica; and the New Warner Park in St Kitts, which would be that island's first ever Test.
They are also expected to play five ODIs - two in Jamaica, two in Trinidad and one in St Kitts.
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