Pak U-19s tour to Sri Lanka postponed

Sri Lanka has postponed a tour of Pakistan’s under-19 team following the Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed 253 in the island country, a cricket board (SLC) source told Reuters on Saturday.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the suicide bomb attacks on three churches and four hotels all but one of which were in the capital, Colombo.

The Pakistan under-19 side, captained by Rohail Nazir, was scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka on April 30 to play two four-day matches, followed by three one-dayers. Galle and Hambantota were the venues for the matches.

“The request was to postpone it for a short time,” the source said referring to last Sunday’s attack.

“Discussions are ongoing with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) (and) Sri Lanka Cricket is trying to bring Pakistan to play the tournament at a later date.”