West Indies, Afghanistan to play three T20Is, three ODIs in June

Afghanistan’s first bilateral series against West Indies will include three T20Is and three ODIs, beginning in the first week of June. The series will be played concurrently with the Champions Trophy, which begins on June 1 in England. West Indies, who haven’t won a bilateral ODI series since 2014, beating Bangladesh at home, failed to qualify for the Champions Trophy.

All three T20s will be played at Warner Park in St Kitts, beginning from June 2. The ODIs, all of which will be played at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in St Lucia, will begin a week later, on June 9. The tour’s original schedule included five ODIs and three T20Is. This series will also be Afghanistan’s first full series against a Full Member other than Zimbabwe.

“It will also be an important series for our side,” Roland Holder, WICB Manager of Cricket Operations, said, “as they look to move up in the ICC World Rankings in the two formats, and continue their quest to qualify for the 2019 ICC World Cup in England and Wales.”

West Indies are currently placed ninth in the ODI rankings, followed by Afghanistan. West Indies will be hoping to climb up the rankings as only the top eight teams as of September end this year will gain automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup. They lost their last ODI series 3-0 to England earlier this month and have three more coming up against Pakistan in April.

West Indies and Afghanistan have never played an ODI against each other and the last time they squared up in a T20I, Afghanistan won by six runs, in a league match in the World T20 last year. The upcoming three T20Is will start at 19:00h and the day-night ODIs will start at 14:30h. (ESPNCricinfo)