County prep hit by teams' withdrawal

The two Barbados sides scheduled to participate in a T20 competition against six English counties have pulled out just hours before the event was due to start.

Six English counties - Warwickshire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Hampshire and Northamptonshire - are currently in Barbados preparing for the new county season, but their preparations have been hit by the withdrawal of both local sides from what was to have been the showpiece event of the trip.

ESPNcricinfo understands that the Barbados side made a late request for payment in the region of BBD 3,000 (just under GBP 1,000) and, after this was declined, refused to play. As a result it was decided that the other local side, the Combined Campuses and Colleges team, should also withdraw from the competition in order to allow the six county sides to contest between themselves.

The location of the games has also been changed. Organisers originally claimed that the two-day competition, on March 16 and 17, would be played at the Kensington Oval but the first day has been rescheduled for the Three W's Oval on the University of the West Indies, Barbados campus.

The reputation of pre-season tours to Barbados was increased greatly by the subsequent success of the counties that travelled to the country in March 2012. Warwickshire, who went on to win the County Championship, Hampshire, who won the limited-overs double, and Derbyshire and Yorkshire, who both won promotion in the championship, were among the counties who attended.