West Indies offer to host England Test series scheduled for June

With only a handful of cases of coronavirus in the Caribbean, CWI have proposed that they could stage the three matches

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England have been offered a lifeline in their hopes of fulfilling part of their international schedule this summer after West Indies submitted a proposal to host the three-Test series in June.

The two nations are due to face-off in three five-day matches at The Oval, Edgbaston and Lord's, starting on June 4.

Government experts expect the coronavirus to peak in the United Kingdom at a similar time, throwing the upcoming season into deep uncertainty with emergency services currently not supporting mass gatherings.

Cases of COVID-19 are limited, however, opening up the possibility of West Indies hosting the three Tests in an effort to preserve part of the calendar.

"I've spoken to Tom Harrison a couple of times in the last few days and assured him that we will be as flexible, supportive and helpful as possible," Jonny Grave, Cricket West Indies CEO told ESPNcricinfo.

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"To that end, yes, we have offered to host the series here in the Caribbean if that is deemed helpful. The ECB would retain all commercial and broadcast rights.

"This is not about us trying to take advantage of the situation. It's about the cricket community working together at a difficult time for everyone and, one of the many great things about the Caribbean is, we can play cricket all year round.

"There has long been a special relationship between the cricket communities in the Caribbean and England and we wanted to make it clear we will do everything we can to help."

Coronavirus has already damaged England's plans in 2020 after they were sent home from the tour of Sri Lanka ahead of the two-Test series in Galle and Colombo.

The rest of the summer includes limited-overs matches against Australia in July, Tests and T20s with Pakistan across August and early September, and three ODIs against Ireland - the future of which are all uncertain.

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