England tour of Sri Lanka postponed due to coronavirus pandemic with players set to return to UK

England's cricketers will return to the UK after their tour of Sri Lanka was postponed due to coronavirus
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Will Macpherson13 March 2020

England's tour of Sri Lanka has been called off due to coronavirus.

England were playing the second of their warm-up matches for the two-Test series, which was due to begin next Thursday, when the news was confirmed after overnight discussions between the ECB and Sri Lanka Cricket.

As these matches are in the World Test Championship there is a desire to play the games at a later date, before June 2021, when the final of that competition takes place.

But with thousands of England fans due to travel to Sri Lanka, where there are currently three confirmed cases of Covid-19, for the tour in the coming days, the decision was made to call it off.

‘’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 U.K and postpone the forthcoming Test series between Sri Lanka and England," an ECB statement read.

The moment the England players learned the tour was off Photo: PA
PA

"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 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."

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