ODI, Test moved from Jamaica to Trinidad & Tobago

Roseau, Dominica:

Trinidad & Tobago will stage the fifth and final One-day International, and the first Test between West Indies and South Africa, which have been moved from the violence-torn Jamaica capital of Kingston.

The West Indies Cricket Board confirmed on Wednesday that the ODI on June 3 will be staged at Queen's Park Oval in the T&T capital of Port of Spain, where the Test will be staged from June 10 to 14.

The WICB spent the last few days trying to determine, which of the venues in the Caribbean could adequately stage the shifted matches.

Media reports indicated that Queen's Park Oval and St. Lucia's Beausejour Cricket Ground were the front-runners. A newspaper report in Jamaica on Wednesday reported that a last-ditch effort to save the Test in Jamaica, and switch the dates with Barbados, which hosts the third and final Test, also failed because of security fears.

Over two-dozen people have reportedly lost their lives in the Jamaica capital, following an outbreak of gun battles between security forces and supporters of community strongman and alleged drug kingpin Christopher 'Dudus' Coke in the volatile West Kingston constituency.

This stems from the Jamaica government agreeing to sign an extradition order to the United States for Coke, the 41-year-old reputed leader of the nefarious Shower Posse gang, one of the most notorious criminal organizations in the Western Hemisphere.

A two-day practice match on June 6 and 7, which was also scheduled for Jamaica has also been shifted to T&T at a venue to be confirmed at a later date, the WICB said.

This is the second time that the WICB has had to shift matches in the series. The regional governing body had to relocate the two Twenty20 Internationals and the first two ODIs between the two sides to Antigua, following the announcement of a snap general election that took place in T&T on Monday.