West Indies 'indefinitely postpone' Australia's tour

The scheduled series between West Indies and Australia immediately following the 2007 World Cup has been indefinitely postponed after the West Indies board expressed concern over hosting two major tournaments in such a short time.

"The West Indies have concerns about having two marquee events back to back, they would prefer to spread them out, and frankly that makes sense," Cricket Australia's Peter Young said. However, he insisted the board was committed to its agreement to tour the Caribbean every five years.

Rearranging the series could be more of a problem as Australia appear to have agreed to play India home and away every four years, and West Indies fixtures are not the draw they were a decade ago and could be shoved behind more fashionable and lucrative alternatives. The recently-concluded series in Australia was played at the start of the season and was downgraded to three Tests.

The news will be a further blow to the ICC, whose Future Tours Programme is looking rather sickly. Last week the Indian board indicated that it might consider ditching the FTP, and it appears to have gone some way down that route by its deal with Cricket Australia. Today, the Indian board announced that its series against New Zealand scheduled for February 2007 had been postponed after discussions with its New Zealand counterparts.

Earlier this week Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, was concerned enough to write to Niranjan Shah, the Indian board's secretary, to remind him of his country's responsibilities to the game.