Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, has proposed that England tour the Caribbean later this year to help keep Cricket West Indies “afloat”.

Holder admitted that West Indies have been struggling financially and have had a “tough last few years”, which has been aggravated by the current situation, calling for the sport’s big guns to help the smaller countries.

“If something doesn’t happen soon we’ll see less international cricket being played by smaller countries because we simply can’t afford it,” Holder said. “We’ve gone from having four, five-match series, down to two and three. And it’s very difficult to host any more than that for us, particularly the Caribbean.

“So yeah, it is a serious dilemma that we’re faced with. I think the relevant personnel really need to sit down and have a look at it.”

Holder went on to add that they are not currently aware of what the future holds for them but England touring West Indies for a series later this year would “help significantly”. He pointed out that the West Indies players and support staff even took a 50% pay cut to tour England for the three-Test series in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I was speaking to our chief executive, Johnny Grave, who highlighted that we really only make money from playing England and India [at home],” he said. “Maybe we break even with Australia and Pakistan. But we lose money against other teams.

After a 2-1 series defeat, @michael_rudling runs the rule of Jason Holder’s side.#ENGvWI https://t.co/s3k9siqSV7

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 28, 2020

“We don’t know what’s going to happen after this series with the international calendar but if there is an opportunity for England to come over to the Caribbean before the end of the year that would help significantly.

“It’s been a tough last few years for us financially, pretty much and we’ve taken a pay cut due to the circumstances. A tour hopefully, if it is possible before the end of 2020, would help keep us afloat.”

West Indies went down in the last match by 269 runs, thereby losing the three-Test series 2-1 after a win in the first Test.