Lankan cricketers gear up for chock-a-block ’21-’22 international season

The Sri Lankan cricketers during a training session 

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

 With the likelihood of no international cricket being played for the rest of the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sri Lanka’s cricketers are gearing themselves up for a hectic and gruelling 2021 and 2022 season of cricket, with possibly all the postponed matches being crammed into a tight international schedule.

For the current year, Sri Lanka has already postponed a 2-Test series against England that was scheduled for March, and tours by South Africa (ODIs, T20Is), India (ODIs, T20Is) and Bangladesh (Tests).

Scheduled tours for later this year by Zimbabwe (ODIs, T20Is) and Bangladesh (ODIs) and a tour to South Africa (Tests) at the end of the year are most likely to follow on the same lines. All these series have to be rescheduled for 2021 and 2022.   

“It’s going to be a very busy season, because we have to put all these tours back to back and there can be a lot of injuries also in-between,” said a Sri Lanka Cricket official.

“What we are trying to do is we want to make sure that our bench is strong enough, because 2021-22 is going to be a chock-a-block international season for Sri Lanka, as all the postponed tours have to be fitted into that period,” he said.

Under the circumstances, Sri Lanka Cricket is trying its best to ensure that the 30-odd national cricketers in the pool are in trim condition when the time comes for them to really hit their straps.

“Under the current guidelines given by the Government and health authorities, we are adhering to them and trying to keep the workload going, to make sure the players are in preparation,” the official said.

During the lockdown time, Sri Lanka Cricket ran two residential camps successfully for the players at Colombo and at Pallekele, where groups of about 15-20 players trained.

There was a lot of anticipation that the players might get some sort of competitive cricket under their belts when the domestic Premier tournament was scheduled to resume on 14 July. But unfortunately it ran into a bit of a snag, and had to be postponed until next month.

“We don’t want the players to lose their fitness and their workloads, so they are training in small groups,” said the official.

Following the two residential camps, the players were given a break for about a week before they returned to training and practice on Monday, but unfortunately they could not because of bad weather. Sessions are scheduled for every other day of the week.

In addition to their training, the players are expected to continue doing their individual fitness at home according to the guidelines given by the team’s trainer.

Sri Lanka already has a tight 2021 and 2022 international calendar (see below) and it will be overly demanding of players who play all three formats, when the postponed 2020 matches are also slotted into that schedule. But with cricketers worldwide all currently undergoing enforced, potentially prolonged periods out of the game, they might be desperate to make up for lost time when they finally are able to resume normal life.

It is also not unreasonable to suggest that once the COVID-19 pandemic is over, there may be an increased appetite among players and Cricket Boards to fit in as much cricket as possible, however demanding that may be on the players.

Sri Lanka’s present international schedule for 2021 and 2022 as per the Future Tours Program (FTP):

 2021

Jan-Feb: Tour of New Zealand (3 ODIs, 3 T20Is)

Feb-Mar: Tour of West Indies (2 Tests, 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is)

June-July: Tour of England (3 ODIs, 3 T20Is)

July: Tour by India (3 T20Is)

July-Aug: Tour by Afghanistan (3 ODIs, 3 T20Is)

Oct: Tour of Australia (3 T20I)

Dec: Tour of Bangladesh (2 Tests)

2022

Feb-Mar: Tour of India (3 Tests, 3 T20Is)

June-July: Tour by Australia (2 Tests, 5 ODIs)

July-Aug: Tour by Pakistan (2 Tests, 3 ODIs)

Sep: Asia Cup 2022  

Oct-Nov: Tour by West Indies (2 Tests)

Nov-Dec: Tour of New Zealand (2 Tests, 3 ODIs)

Dec-Jan – Tour of India (5 ODIs)