After the World Health Organisation (WHO) has opened up its concern in the wake of COVID-19 or coronavirus outbreak in the worldwide, every country is taking the situation very seriously. Though the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was initially ok with the Sri Lanka tour as the England cricketers were already in that country, the board has now decided to postpone this international cricket tour.
In the latest Sri Lanka tour, England had the schedule to play two-match Test series against the hosts between 19th March and 31st March 2020. This series was the part of the 2019-21 ICC World Test Championship.
While Galle International Stadium (Galle) had the plan to host the opening Test of the series (19th-23rd March), Sinhalese Sports Club Ground (Colombo) had the plan to host the last Test of the series (27th-31st March).
The England cricketers are already in Sri Lanka. Before the Test series, they have the plan to play two multi-day tour games in the Sri Lanka tour. They already played the three-day tour match against Sri Lanka Board President’s XI at FTZ Sports Complex, Katunayake (7th-9th March), which had the draw result.
They were presently busy in the four-day tour match against the same team P Sara Oval, Colombo (12th-15th March). But during the day two of that game (13th March), the ECB announced their postponement of this tour after their discussion with the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).
BREAKING: England's two-Test series in Sri Lanka has been postponed due to the current coronavirus pandemic. pic.twitter.com/zMKtgK6rRK
— ICC (@ICC) March 13, 2020
The ECB stated in their press release, “Due to the Covid-19 pandemic worsening globally, and after discussions with Sri Lanka Cricket, we have today made the decision to return our players to the UK and postpone the forthcoming Test series between Sri Lanka and England.
“At this time, the physical and mental wellbeing of our players and support teams is paramount. We will now look to bring them home to their families as soon as possible. These are completely unprecedented times, and decisions like this go beyond cricket.”
We look forward to returning to Sri Lanka in the very near future: England and Wales Cricket Board
After thanking the SLC, the ECB has also added that they will try to return to Sri Lanka very soon to play this vital Test series.
The statement claimed, “We would like to thank our colleagues at Sri Lanka Cricket for their outstanding support and assistance throughout this situation. We look forward to returning to Sri Lanka in the very near future to fulfil this important Test series.”
Due to the coronavirus issue, the English camp earlier decided to avoid handshakes during this tour. Instead of handshakes, they chose to involve in the fist bump during the celebration moment.