England vs Sri Lanka test series postponed over coronavirus fears

Sri Lanka’s up-coming Test series against England became the latest victim of the global Coronavirus pandemic as the tour has been postponed just days ahead of the first Test in Galle.
 
The decision comes as England were playing their final tour match against Sri Lanka Board XI at P Sara Stadium. First Test was due to begin on March 19.

"Due to the Covid-19 pandemic worsening globally, and after discussions with Sri Lanka Cricket, we have today made the decision to return our players to the U.K and postpone the forthcoming Test series between Sri Lanka and England," ECB said in a statement.

"At this time, the physical and mental wellbeing of our players and support teams is paramount. We will now look to bring them home to their families as soon as possible. These are completely unprecedented times, and decisions like this go beyond cricket".

Sri Lanka has so far only had two confirmed cases of the Coronavirus but the government took the decision to shut all schools for six weeks and have already put restrictions on foreigners entering the country, including halting all on-arrival visas and the quarantining of anyone who has spent time in Italy, South Korea or Iran in the past 14 days.

With around 2,000 English fans scheduled to travel to the country from this weekend, it is expected action would be taken to call off the tour as Sri Lankan authorities look to control the spread of Coronavirus within their borders.

With the country’s quarantine facilities only able to hold around 2,500 people and cases of Covid-19 markedly increasing in the UK every day, postponement of the series is the most sensible option available.