The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) announced recently that Dominica’s Windsor Park will debut as the World’s newest Test venue in July 2011, when it hosts the final in a series between West Indies and India.
For the second time since they were reconstructed ahead of the 2007 World Cup, the Arnos Vale Sports Complex in St. Vincent and the National Cricket Stadium in Grenada have failed to attract a match during the West Indies host series next year.
The WICB said in a release: “For the packed 2011 season of cricket in the Caribbean, West Indies will host Pakistan and reigning World Test champion India for a total of two Twenty20s, l0 ODIs and five Tests.”
West Indies will face Pakistan from April 21 to May 24 in one Twenty20, five ODIs and two Tests.
The regional team will meet India in a Twenty20, five ODIs and three Tests from June 4 to July 20.
Arnos Vale in its current state has staged one Test and four ODIs over the last three years and the National Cricket Stadium has hosted one Test and eight ODIs, including six during the World Cup.
Other organizational issues have impacted on the WICB’s decision not to place matches in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada this year.
Pakistan will play five matches in St. Lucia in April, one ODI at Kensington Oval, Barbados another in Guyana, and the first Test will start on May 12 at the Guyana National Stadium and the Second Test at Warner Park, St. Kitts.
India will play three matches at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad in June – one Twenty20, one ODI and the second Test. The other Test venues would be the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua; Sabina Park, Jamaica; Kensington Oval,Barbados: and the third Test at Windsor Park, Dominica, which will end on June 10.
