Caribbean summer awaits busy England

England will contest four Test matches and a seven-match one-day international series during their tour of the West Indies next year.

England will contest four Test matches and a seven-match one-day international series during their tour of the West Indies next year.

They will also tour Bangladesh and Sri Lanka next winter before heading to the Caribbean. England will first play two Tests and three one-day internationals in October and November in Bangladesh, before travelling to Sri Lanka.

In Sydney, Shane Warne admitted the banned diuretic which earned him a 12-month ban was not the first time he had taken a fluid tablet. The Australian spinner said he had taken another tablet given to him by his mother in early December – more than a month before taking the banned diuretic which threatens to end his career. He said a previous test had shown up small traces of similar substances to those in the 22 January sample.

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union have ordered Andy Flower and Henry Olonga to stop making political statements. The pair wore black armbands against Namibia on 10 February to represent the "death of democracy" in their homeland.

ITINERARY (England tour of West Indies, 2004, tour games tbc): 11-15 March: 1st Test, Jamaica. 19-23 March: 2nd Test, Trinidad. 1-5 April: 3rd Test, Barbados. 9-13 April: 4th Test, Antigua. 18 April: 1st One-Day International, Guyana. 24 April: 2nd ODI, Trinidad. 25 April: 3rd ODI, Trinidad. 28 April: 4th ODI, Grenada. 1 May: 5th ODI, St. Lucia. 2 May: 6th ODI, St. Lucia. 5 May: 7th ODI, Barbados.