Coronavirus: South Africa tour to Sri Lanka postponed

Johannesburg, April 20: South Africa's tour to Sri Lanka in June has been postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Proteas were due to play three one-dayers and a trio of Twenty20 contests against their hosts, but the trip will now have to be rearranged.

Sri Lanka and South Africa jointly announced the decision on Monday (April 20).

"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 Cricket South Africa's acting chief executive 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.

"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 T20 World Cup scheduled for Australia later this year.

"It is very frustrating for the players who want to build on the good form they showed at the backend of our home summer against Australia."