India to resume West Indies cricket ties with Test series

India's cricket board on Saturday announced the resumption of bilateral cricketing ties with the West Indies, saying its team will travel to the Caribbean for a Test series later this year. "The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and the WICB (West Indies Cricket Board) have resolved outstanding issues arising out of the abandonment of the tour of the West Indies team to India in 2014," the BCCI said in a statement released to the media. "With this understanding, bilateral series as part of the Future Tours Programme will be resumed with the Indian cricket team touring the West Indies in July-August, 2016 for a four match test series," it added. Earlier this month India's board dropped a $42 million damages claim against the West Indies over the abandoned 2014 tour after the team agreed to return to play in India next year. The huge damages claim lodged by the BCCI had threatened to cripple the cash-strapped West Indies, which has been at loggerheads with its own players. "BCCI is happy to resume their bilateral ties with the WICB," Anurag Thakur, BCCI's Honorary Secretary, said in the statement. The West Indies players flew home from India in October 2014 when a long-running pay dispute came to a head in the middle of the tour. The two teams had been due to play five ODIs, three Test matches and a T20 international, but the tourists refused to play on after the first four ODIs, with captain Dwayne Bravo leading a revolt by the players. Bravo was subsequently sacked as skipper and has since been an outspoken critic of the West Indies board. After captaining the West Indies to victory in the final of the World Twenty20 in Kolkata earlier this month, Darren Sammy took a swipe at the governing body over what he said was a lack of support for the players. The board slapped Sammy down but also announced plans for talks with senior players, many of whom have not played Test cricket since 2014, turning out instead in lucrative domestic T20 tournaments.