LONDON, 12 September 2003 — England’s home international program for 2004 announced here yesterday is set to be the most grueling they have faced on home soil with three sets of back-to-back Test matches due to take place.
Their three-Test series with New Zealand will see just two days between the second match at Headingley and the climax at Trent Bridge. And the four-Test series with the West Indies that follows features two pairs of back-to-backs.
Former West Indies captain turned International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Clive Lloyd said the gaps were too short. “At the moment you might lose vital players because a niggling injury needs five days recovery time instead of three and teams can’t risk an individual because the opposition can refuse a substitute in such circumstances,” Lloyd explained.
England are also due to play a triangular one-day international series with New Zealand and the West Indies. And their home season has been extended because England are hosting September’s International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy one-day tournament. England are also due to play a three one-day internationals in August and September to help them ‘warm up’ for the Trophy.
But fixture growth is an international issue, as England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) spokesman Mark Hodgson said yesterday.
“We are playing back-to-back Tests this winter. Both the two Tests in Bangladesh and all three in Sri Lanka are back-to-back. And so are the first two in the West Indies and the last two (England tour the Caribbean in the New Year). Our schedule next year is a consequence of staging the Champions Trophy. There is a lot of cricket to be played.”
England’s first Test against New Zealand is due to start just two weeks after they arrive back from the West Indies. Last year, at a meeting of Test captains hosted by the ICC at Lord’s, skippers from the world’s leading cricket nations spoke out against the growth of back-to-back games in both Test and one-day cricket. But the ICC is currently powerless to draw up an international fixture schedule with tours a matter of negotiation between respective boards.
“We were very conscious of the views of the captains. The situation was that a guideline was put in place saying that back-to-back Tests are not ideal,” ICC spokesman Brendan McClements said.”For our purposes (the ICC Test and one-day standings) a series can constitute two Test matches or three one-day internationals.
