Lancashire duo heading to Sri Lanka
ENGLAND will play two Test matches behind closed doors in Sri Lanka next month.
The ECB has ramped up bio-security plans in a bid to avoid a repeat of the abandonment of the South Africa tour.
Players will isolate for three days after arriving in Sri Lanka and will undergo full coronavirus testing every two days throughout the trip.
The first Test will start on January 14 with the travelling party - set to include Lancashire duo Jimmy Anderson and Jos Buttler - departing on a chartered flight on
January 2 and being subject to quarantine in Hambantota.
England had been due to undertake a similar two-Test trip to Sri Lanka in March this year, but it also ended with the tourists leaving early as the coronavirus pandemic began to take hold.
Players are expected to be offered ‘mental health screening’ ahead of the tour after growing concerns over a coronavirus outbreak inside the team’s bubble in South Africa.
Ashley Giles, managing director of England men’s cricket, made the commitment this week, saying: “These guys have been living in bubbles for long periods of time and their mental health and well-being is the absolute priority for us.”
Opener Rory Burns has already indicated he could miss at least part of the tour as he stays at home to attend the birth of his first child.
But Jonny Bairstow is set to return to the squad after pulling out of his contract with Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League in order to make himself available.
England will also play a day-night Test in the newly-built Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad on their three-format tour of India early next year.
England will travel directly from Sri Lanka, where they are playing two Tests in January, and stay for two months after agreeing a schedule containing four Tests, five Twenty20s and three ODIs.
Initial suggestions that the visit would be moved to the United Arab Emirates, as the recent Indian Premier League season was, have not come to pass, with the visit representing the return of international cricket to the country for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak.
Just three venues will be used for the 12 fixtures, a concession to the difficulties of setting up ‘bio-secure environments’ in the midst of a pandemic.
Chennai will host the first two Tests, starting on February 5 and 13, before the circus departs for Ahmedabad and the new largest cricket venue in the world. Built to hold 110,000 fans, it is likely to be empty given the current state of the virus, with the third Test of the series between February 24-28 set to be played under lights with the pink ball.
England have played three previous day-night Tests, at Edgbaston, Adelaide and Auckland, with India due to do so for the second time in Adelaide next week.
The Test series will conclude in Ahmedabad on traditional timings.