COLOMBO—Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has requested a postponement of the three-Test home series against South Africa — scheduled for July and August next year — until 2014 or later, in order accommodate a triangular one-day series.
Report by Cricinfo
That tri-series, involving West Indies and India, is itself a rescheduled fixture after Sri Lanka’s two Tests in the West Indies that clashed with the end of the Indian Premier League (IPL) were culled from the fixtures list.
Instead of touring the West Indies before the Champions Trophy in June, the tri-series will now take place after the Champions Trophy, meaning there is not enough time to play the Tests against South Africa before the Sri Lankan Premier League is set to begin.
Cricket South Africa (CSA)has said it is reviewing SLC’s request, but they will have to weigh up broadcasters’ interests before taking their decision.
“We are not keen on cancelling Tests,” CSA acting chief executive Jacques Faul said. “It goes through a process where we send it to the team management and then the logistics manager. We try to help other countries as much as we can, but they will have to give reasons for wanting no Tests. When you cancel Tests, you’ve got to be careful because there are broadcasting issues.”
The request to change the tour programme is a continuation of the SLC’s recent trend of culling Tests from Sri Lanka’s schedule. In addition to the Tests in the West Indies that have been scrapped, two Tests against India in July this year became five one-day international (ODI)s, and a Twenty20 (T20), and the three Tests scheduled for England in March became a two-Test series as the IPL approached.
SLC chief executive officer Ajit Jayasekara said the SLPL “always had a window” in Sri Lanka’s international schedule and was not the reason SLC has requested the Tests to be rescheduled.
