West Indies to host England in five T20Is, three tests in 2022

FILE PHOTO: Third Test - England v West Indies - Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - July 28, 2020 England's Stuart Broad celebrates taking his 500th test wicket with teammates after taking the wicket of West Indies' Kraigg Brathwaite, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Michael Steele/Pool via REUTERS

West Indies will host England in five Twenty20 internationals and three test matches in 2022 in an expanded schedule of their International Cricket Council (ICC) Future Tours Programme, the cricket boards of both teams said on Wednesday.

England were originally scheduled to play three T20s, and two tests for the new Richards-Botham trophy named after two of the teams' greatest players - Viv Richards and Ian Botham.

The T20 series will be the longest between the sides in the shortest format as they prepare for the T20 World Cup in 2022 in Australia, Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement.

FILE PHOTO: Third Test - England v West Indies - Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - July 28, 2020 West Indies' Shane Dowrich ducks a bouncer off the bowling of England's Jofra Archer, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Martin Rickett/Pool via REUTERS

"An England tour to the West Indies is a special event, so by adding a third test and two T20Is to the original schedule it will enable more fans to watch the teams do battle and afford more of our countries the opportunity to host matches," CWI CEO Johnny Grave said.

The venues for matches will be announced in April.

"The three-test series will form part of the next ICC World Test Championship, whilst the additional T20s will provide our England men's team with valuable preparation ahead of the ICC World T20," ECB CEO Tom Harrison said.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)