Cricket South Africa announced on Monday that the limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka scheduled to take place in June has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Proteas were set to play three One-Day Internationals and as many T20Is in the island nation. The 50-over matches on the tour were going to be South Africa’s first in the International Cricket Council’s new ODI league.
Cricket South Africa acting chief executive Jacques Faul cited health concerns and the fact that the South African players would have been unable to prepare properly because of the country’s coronavirus lockdown as the main reasons for the postponement.
“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 Faul.
“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.”
Faul said it was “very frustrating for the players who want to build on the good form they showed at the back end of our home summer against Australia”.
South Africa finished an otherwise undistinguished season with a 3-0 one-day series win against Australia.
International cricket, just like other sports around the world, has come to a standstill because of the Covid-19 outbreak. The Indian Premier League too has been postponed indefinitely.
