Proteas’ limited overs tour to Sri Lanka postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic
The Proteas’ limited overs tour to Sri Lanka in June has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Monday morning jointly announced the postponement of the tour that was scheduled to take place in the first half of June.
The tour consisted of three ODIs and three T20s.
The one day internationals leg of the tour would have been the first for the Proteas in the ICC’s new one-day league.
“It is very sad that we have been forced to take this step and we will re-schedule the tour as soon as cricket returns to a sense of normality and our international fixture list allows‚” said acting CSA chief executive Jacques Faul.
“Our Proteas would not have been able to prepare properly taking our own lockdown situation into account and‚ more importantly‚ health considerations for our players‚ which are always paramount‚ were the over-riding factor‚” he added.
“It would have been a particularly important tour for us with the three ODIs counting for the new ICC one-day league and the T20 programme being part of our preparation for the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup scheduled for Australia later this year.
"It is very frustrating for the players who want to build on the good form they showed at the backend of our home summer against Australia‚” Faul said.
The Proteas are scheduled to travel to the West Indies in July and there is the T20 World Cup in Australia between October and November which remains in the balance.
“We have a teleconference with the ICC next week Thursday with all the chief executives in the conference.
"There is a lot of uncertainty on this at this stage‚ factors that will influence this big time is international travel.
"When is international travel going to come to an end‚ I guess you can play behind closed doors but you still have to travel and get visas.
"There will be more clarity next week‚ there is a lot of uncertainty and we will report back on it‚” explained Faul last week.