Gonsalves: CWI needs support post-covid19

PRIME Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves said Cricket West Indies (CWI) would need support to thrive post covid19, saying a collective effort is required to help the regional cricket body.

Gonsalves was speaking on the Mason and Guest radio show in Barbados, on Tuesday.

Gonsalves, who has been vocal on matters concerning West Indies cricket, said, “CWI, we need to mobilise some resources to help it. We ourselves in the region, some governments will have to put some (resources). Our situation is not such that we can put much, but I think together in the region – even in the private sector there are grave challenges – but I think we have to mobilise some resources to assist CWI.”

Gonsalves also discussed the upcoming West Indies tour of England, a series that is still questionable due to covid19. CWI is expected to make a final decision at a teleconference meeting on Thursday on whether the tour can happen.

On the safety risks of travelling to England, Gonsalves said, “Once the CWI is properly advised by the relevant epidemiologists and other persons dealing with the science in England and also from the Caribbean (the tour could happen).”

He said this would require “a proper interrogation of those protocols” by CWI leaders and by journalists, so that the public was aware of them and “we can send the young men who represent the senior West Indies team...off in cricket battle.”

The 25-man West Indies squad will meet in Antigua within the next two weeks before taking a chartered flight to England for the series, which will bowl off on July 8. The Windies players will face two weeks of quarantine on arrival and the teams will play at closed venues, with the first Test at the Ageas Bowl and the second and third Test at Old Trafford.

As of Wednesday, St Vincent had recorded 18 confirmed cases of covid19, with no deaths. It is one of just a handful of countries where sports is being played.

Sport throughout the region and the world came to a halt in mid-March because of the virus, but with numbers low in St Vincent, the Government has allowed the Vincy Premier T10 Cricket League to bowl off. The tournament is being played under strict covid19 guidelines, including allowing only a limited number of fans into the ground. Players must sanitise their hands regularly. On Wednesday, unconfirmed reports said 29 Vincentian crew members of the Royal Caribbean International Vision of the Seas cruise tested positive for covid19 on arrival in St Vincent.