No quarantining for England in Sri Lanka as tour confirmed
While Bangladesh's tour of Sri Lanka was scrapped in September after the two concerned cricket boards could not agree to Covid-19 quarantine protocols laid out by Sri Lankan authorities, England will not have to deal with such strict quarantine protocols when they tour the Island nation for two Tests in January next year.
Lankan media Daily FT reported that England have agreed on the Test tour with both games slated to be played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium in a bio-secure bubble. The series, part of the World Test Championship was slated to be played in March last year but was deferred due to Covid-19 pandemic.
"England will arrive around 3 January and they will have about 11 days before the first Test, which will be played from 14-18 January. The second Test will take place from 23-27 January," said SLC CEO Ashley de Silva confirming the dates.
"England will not play any warm-up games against any Sri Lankan opposition, but according to De Silva they will play two warm-up matches amongst themselves. De Silva said that the England team would quarantine themselves for 14 days in the UK prior to leaving for Sri Lanka," the Daily FT report read.
"They would be coming on a chartered flight and will undergo the required PCR test before going into a bubble," he said.
There were no health guidelines from the Sri Lankan government standing in the way this time around, asking England team to stay in their hotel rooms during a strict 14-day quarantine period. Bangladesh did not want to play a World Test Championship series with little preparation ahead of the Test series following strict quarantine.
"Ministry of Health of the Sri Lanka Government at the moment was not in a position to make exemptions to its latest 'Health Guideline' and that the same restrictions applicable to general visitors will remain in place for the Bangladesh Team which includes a mandatory 14-day strict quarantine in respective rooms of the hotel on reaching," BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury had said after the Bangladesh tour was cancelled.
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