Windies booked for New Zealand tour

West Indies are expected to embark on a tour of New Zealand in the coming months after the country’s government gave the approval for quarantine arrangements to the cricket board.

The West Indies became one of the first teams to resume international cricket, in wake of the coronavirus pandemic, when they toured England in August. The entirety of the tour was conducted within a biosecure environment. New Zealand officials had said last month that they were examining the series with the hope of staging a similar version. Pakistan is also expected to be invited to tour the country.

New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said the tours would help the sport through the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s a huge boost for us, it’s our financial lifeline,” he told reporters on Friday. “International cricket funds the whole game of cricket in New Zealand, so it’s very, very important for us.”

White said the teams would fly to Auckland then catch a charter to Christchurch, where they would stay in quarantine while training at NZC’s high-performance centre in Lincoln University. White said all players would follow health and testing protocols set down by the government.

“It’s not going to come cheap; we will be footing the bill but we are happy to do that and fully understand it’s a user-pays model.”