Sri Lanka to resume international cricket in January

Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe last met in an ODI in the ICC World Cup Qualifier in July this year at Bulawayo

• First series with Zimbabwe after World Cup debacle

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

While the tussle between the Sports Minister and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) continues unabated, international cricket involving Sri Lanka will recommence in January with tours to this country by Zimbabwe and Afghanistan for a series of three ODIs and three T20Is followed by Sri Lanka’s cricket tour to Bangladesh for a two-Test series as part of the 2023-2025 ICC World Test Championship in February-March.

Following the suspension of SLC by the ICC because of political interference there were fears that Sri Lanka like Zimbabwe in July 2019 would suffer the same fate which meant that they were banned from partaking in any form of cricket. But SLC managed to convince the ICC to allow them to continue playing international cricket despite the suspension still being in place. For the present time the ICC has allowed it with the probability of reviewing the situation in a few months to see whether the dispute between the Sports Minister and SLC has been resolved.

“The venues for the matches could be in Colombo now because the ICC Under-19 World Cup has been shifted to South Africa. We were earlier not going to play any matches in Colombo because of the Under-19 World Cup. The dates for the matches too will be decided shortly,” said SLC CEO Ashley de Silva.

Following Sri Lanka’s unsuccessful campaign in the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India, the country’s cricketing fortunes were at its nadir. Sri Lanka managed to win only two of their nine league matches and as a result failed to qualify for a place in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy where only the first seven teams in the league plus the host country Pakistan gained automatic qualification. Sri Lanka finished ninth out of ten teams.Beginning January next year Sri Lanka’s white ball team will face a period of rebuilding. Their main focus will be the ICC T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA from 4-30 June, 2024.

“We are going to have discussions about the coaching structure within the next couple of days. There is no uncertainty about the players but we will make some changes in the structure. Some of the coaches’ contracts will be continuing till next year. We will make those announcements in due course,” said De Silva.

Sri Lanka last played Zimbabwe in an ODI in the ICC World Cup Qualifier in July this year winning by nine wickets at Bulawayo and in a T20I as far back as 2012 in an ICC T20 World Cup game at Hambantota which Sri Lanka won by 82 runs.