Cricket West Indies (CWI) yesterday welcomed Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC’s) decision to send their National Team to the Caribbean for a full series involving all formats of the game starting from March 3.
“We are delighted to be able to re-start international cricket in the West Indies, with the announcement of the tour by Sri Lanka,” CWI Chief Executive Officer, Johnny Grave told reporters.
“We have a full schedule featuring all three formats, which is sure to attract lots of attention from our fans, especially following on from the terrific Test series win in Bangladesh,” he emphasised.
“A lot of detailed planning has gone into the hosting of this tour and we are confident it will be a success,” added Grave.
Meanwhile, SLC CEO Ashley de Silva said: “We were supposed to go to the West Indies on February 18 but we have requested CWI to push the itinerary back by about 4-5 days.”
“The two cricket board agreed and now it’s confirmed with covering all formats to success this tour,” he explained.
“There are not many changes to the number of matches but the only change is in the order of matches.”
“It was three One Day Internationals, three T20’s and two Tests earlier but we have now decided to play the three T20’s first and then
the three ODI’s and the two Tests.”
“We have also planned to send the white-ball playing cricketers first and then the Test players and all this will happen under a bio-secure environment,” de Silva added.
Meanwhile, SLC Vice-President Jayantha Dharmadasa said the National players are well prepared for the tour after going through a series of fitness tests.
“The last time we didn’t have the needed match practices before we played the international matches. But now the team is in good shape with fitness, with all these big fitness tests coming in.”
“We have also arranged a practice match so that the players could get the much needed preparations ahead of the important Test series,” added Dharmadasa. The ODIs will be part of the ICC Super League, while the Test series will be part of the ICC World Test Championship.
