England’s Test tour of Sri Lanka, which was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic, might happen in January next year according to the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Chief Executive Officer, Ashley De Silva. However, England Cricket Board (ECB) have not yet made any comment on the developments of their future tours.
Joe Root-led Englishmen left Sri Lanka in the middle of their second warm-up match in March due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. They were scheduled to play two Tests in Galle and Colombo as part of the ICC World Test Championship.
“We are in the process of rescheduling the tours that have been postponed,” De Silva told Daily News. “England has been already rescheduled for the month of January next year but the dates have not been finalized.”
Cricket tours that ended abruptly
As per the ICC Future Tours Program (FTP) currently in place, England are scheduled to tour India for a five-match Test series in January/February. However with the growing uncertainty surrounding the future of cricket in 2020, there is a possibility that England vs India series could be pushed to February accommodating the two-matches in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s home season has been severely hampered due to the global coronavirus pandemic with the postponements of two tours – England (March) and South Africa (June). South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka, which was postponed last month, consist of three ODIs and three T20Is, to be played in June. Therefore, SLC has been in close contact with all the ICC member countries, assessing the situation in order to re-schedule all the upcoming inbound & outbound tours.
“At the same time, we are also looking at exploring the possibility of rescheduling postponed tours and looking at the windows which are available and alternatives too. South Africa is one of the tours which we are looking at rescheduling. We are engaged in discussions with the member countries and see how it can be planned out.” De Silva further stated.
SLC, however, is hoping that the upcoming inbound tours of India and Bangladesh will go ahead as planned. But, there’s plenty of boxes to be ticked before international cricket resumes anywhere in the world, let alone in Sri Lanka.
“There are also two other tours which are scheduled to take place with India and Bangladesh due to tour Sri Lanka in June-July and July-August respectively. We will explore the possibility of playing those two tours in another week or two,” De Silva said.
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