Less matches likely for WI, South Africa T20 series

CAPE TOWN, South Africa:

Next year's T20 International series between hosts South Africa and the West Indies is expected to be shortened to avoid clashing with the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup.

The two sides had been scheduled to play five T20Is between January 27 and February 6, ahead of the World Cup which runs from February 7 to March 8 and is being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

However, according to reports by ESPNcricinfo, the T20I series will most likely be reduced to allow both teams to travel to India and Sri Lanka on time, ahead of the World Cup.

On August 28, the ICC sent participating teams a member information pack, with information regarding warm-up matches.

The document, seen by ESPNcricinfo, states that the ICC's support period - the time in which teams are expected to arrive in the host countries and play non-obligatory warm-up games - starts on January 31.

That has moved up from February 3, while Cricket South Africa (CSA) had drawn up their home fixtures with the understanding that South Africa would have enough time to travel to the T20 World Cup.

The CSA is currently in discussions with Cricket West Indies (CWI) to see when West Indies want to arrive in the subcontinent and how many matches they want to play there.

Even if the West Indies opt not to play any warm-up games, CSA will still have to cull at least two of the five T20Is. The last two games are on February 3 and 6.

The fixtures cannot be played any earlier, with the SA20 ending on January 25.

The CSA is currently deciding which venues should host the matches against West Indies. At present, the venues are likely to be Paarl, Newlands, Buffalo Park in East London, Centurion and Johannesburg.

- CMC