Proteas tour to Sri Lanka put on hold

The Proteas’ limited-overs tour to Sri Lanka in June has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cricket SA and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Monday jointly announced the postponement of the tour scheduled to take place in the first half of June.

The tour was to include 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 reschedule the tour as soon as cricket returns to a sense of normality and our international fixture list allows‚” said acting Cricket SA CEO 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 T20 World Cup scheduled for Australia later this year.

“It is frustrating for the players who want to build on the good form they showed at the back end 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 in October and November which remains in the balance.

“We have a teleconference with the ICC next week Thursday with all the CEOs in the conference. There is a lot of uncertainty at this stage. Factors that will influence this big time include international travel.

“When is the ban on 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‚” said Faul.