INDIA’S cricket authorities claim to have asked West Indies to schedule only three Tests during their team’s tour to the Caribbean this year, which has come as a surprise to the hosts, who claim that they were unaware of any request.

India were to play four Tests during the tour, which starts on May 15, but now they want to reduce the number by one, Shashank Manohar, the head of the Indian cricket board’s fixtures panel, said.

However, Roger Brathwaite, the West Indies Cricket Board chief executive, said that he had not received any information from the Indian authorities about a changing the schedule. “I have no knowledge of any request for a change,” he said. “I’m hearing about it for the first time. Last year we sent them an itinerary and asked if they had any request for adjustments that they be communicated to us in writing. We did not receive any request and we published the information that we had.”

West Indies released the details of the tour in October. “We have put all the necessary systems in place (for four Tests) and it’s extremely difficult to make changes now,” Brathwaite said.

Johan Botha, the South Africa off spinner, has been banned from bowling in international cricket after being reported for an illegal action on his Test debut against Australia last month. An independent analysis identified “excessive levels of straightening” in his off break and “doosra”.

Sri Lanka play Australia in the best-of-three VB Series finals after beating South Africa by 76 runs in Hobart. Malinga Bandara, the Sri Lanka leg spinner, went on as a supersub and took four for 31.