Above: Grenada (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

England will play its first-ever test cricket match in Grenada next year, the government announced.

The match at the National Stadium in Grenada will take place during England’s three-test tour in the Caribbean next April and May.

Grenada Sports Minister Emmalin Pierre said the test would be a “tremendous opportunity for our entire nation and West Indies Cricket.”

“we thank the West Indies Cricket Board for their assistance with the organization of the tour and we know the venues will prove extremely popular with the thousands of cricket lovers who follow England to the Caribbean,” said Paul Downtown, managing director of England Cricket. “It will also be exciting for many to visit the new venue of Grenada for the first time.”

It will also be only the third time Grenada has staged a test match; the most recent one was a West Indies-Bangladesh test in 2009.

Two warm-up matches will be played at St Kitts’ Warner Park in April.