Exhausted after a grueling Test tour of England to restart international cricket, beleaguered West Indies players and support staff faced extra delays returning home last month due to the wrath of Tropical Storm Gonzalo.

With the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) – the region’s T20 franchise tournament – imminent, players then had to quarantine on arrival in Trinidad and Tobago due to the island nation’s strict rules due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The logistical nightmare and mental fatigue are the new challenges facing professional cricketers in these grim times.

A gallant West Indies lost a riveting three-Test series played in Southampton and Manchester, where players and support staff stayed in the on-site hotels and followed strict bio-security measures. After a memorable first Test victory, the tired tourists fell away after spending 51 days confined essentially to cricket grounds.

“Mentally…playing cricket in bio-secure conditions is tough for cricketers and support staff,” Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief executive Johnny Grave told me during a phone interview. “Being in a bio-secure environment for seven weeks and then having to lockdown again has been very difficult. But they are professional sportsmen and back doing the job they love.”

The on-field results were almost inconsequential. The cricket world applauded West Indies for merely touring hard-hit U.K, where embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson has seemingly stumbled his way through the pandemic. In contrast, the Caribbean has had relatively few cases of the virus.

“I think it would have been easy for us to say ‘no thanks’,” Grave said. “We feel like we have a duty to the sport and an obligation for the World Test Championship.”

Once mighty West Indies, who were basically unbeatable in the 1980s, have endured a prolonged decline in Test cricket over the past two decades exacerbated by nasty feuds between board and players.

Things have started to look rosier in recent times – they are the reigning T20 world champions – and the national governing body has stabilized since the appointment of England-born Grave in 2017.

But West Indies have been unable to return to its former pomp in Test cricket with showpiece five-Test series against England and Australia a distant memory. They’ve been particularly shunned by Australia, whose cricket body has been seemingly obsessed with scheduling Tests on a loop against money spinners India and England.

West Indies have played a measly eight Tests against Australia in the past decade and toured Down Under in that time frame for Tests only in 2015-16. “Australia – they have hardly played us or Bangladesh and haven’t played Ireland or Afghanistan,” Grave says.

“We’ve done Afghanistan, Ireland, Zimbabwe and our men’s and women’s teams have toured Pakistan. We feel we’re doing the right thing by the sport and supporting other nations and we want the solidarity reciprocated not just to us but equally to everyone.

“The sport has to be about more than just money. Something administrators need to think carefully about – is this just about generating money for ourselves or is this about not just growing the sport in our territories but helping to grow the sport in new markets and different countries?”

With the economic tumult set to linger for some time, there is fear from smaller cricket nations that the powerhouses of Australia, India and England will be further incentivized to play each other even more. It could be a particularly painful financial hit for teams like the West Indies, who “only make money” from hosting series when England or India tour.

Grave has called for a “complete review” of the International Cricket Council’s Future Tours Programme, where teams in theory are supposed to play each other equally, and its revenue distribution model marked by India’s large piece of the financial pie.

“Clearly there are bigger markets at lower cost bases and those discrepancies have been exposed through the explosion of revenue through satellite tv,” Grave said. “When you look at the value of tv rights of the domestic markets of the big three (India, Australia and England’s are worth billions), the game needs to reassess that model and come up with something fairer that ensures the viability of all nations.

“This is unprecedented times,” he added. “People want to see Test cricket protected. They want to see a competitive balance and the game of cricket to grow into new markets as well as in the traditional markets.”

The onset of the pandemic was cruel timing for CWI, which was aiming to secure its broadcast rights after a seven-year agreement with Sony Ten ended last year. The governing body has had to slash staff remuneration in half since July 1 but no jobs have been lost.

It is unclear when West Indies will next play international cricket with Grave saying South Africa’s proposed tour of the Caribbean is uncertain due to the rescheduled India Premier League, which will run from September 19-November 10. Grave confirmed West Indies would honor a commitment to tour New Zealand later in the year.

Right now, West Indies players are preparing for the CPL which will be the first T20 franchise league played since the pandemic. Three players and one coach were not able to travel to Trinidad due to health protocols but there has not been a positive test since the contingent arrived ahead of the August 18 start.

Even though matches will be played behind closed doors at two venues in Trinidad, the tournament is hoped to provide a morale boost for the financially-ravaged Caribbean, where holiday hot spots have been closed since March crippling the tourism sector.

“Many people are living paycheck to paycheck as there are no unemployment benefits,” Grave said. “It’s been very tough for the region.”  

Having worked closely with England’s bio-secure ‘bubble’, CWI officials have used the knowledge to replicate the formula on an even more complex assignment. “There are many players from all over the world in the CPL but it’s gone smoothly,” Grave said.

“It’s a really ambitious plan, we’ve gone to extraordinary lengths to get it going. It will be intense competition on a tight schedule. And our players want to go to the IPL with really competitive cricket under their belt.

“Collectively our players would have played more than anyone else.

“It’s not often we can say that.”