Tour hangs in the balance as Cricket Boards wait for health guidelines

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Both Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) are waiting for the health guidelines to be issued by the COVID Task Force Committee to decide on whether the Test tour of Sri Lanka will go ahead as scheduled.

The Bangladesh national cricket team is due to arrive in Sri Lanka towards the end of the month to commence a three-Test series in October, but the tour hangs in the balance due to the stringent rules that are in force in the country for any persons coming in where they will have to undergo 14 days of quarantine.

In talks with SLC, BCB has indicated that 14 days of quarantine was “unacceptable” to them and have asked for a reduction of the number of days.

SLC has now gone to the COVID Task Force Committee to try and salvage something out of the tour and save it. “Bangladesh are waiting for our response to take the call on how we want to move forward. We are also waiting for the COVID Task Force Committee to come back to us hopefully by Tuesday after discussions with the Health Minister,” said SLC CEO Ashley de Silva.

“We are also having discussions with the BCB to see whether they could go through 14 days of quarantine, so that after about 10 days or so whether they can only go to the grounds and train without being confined to the hotel. We are looking at those options as well. I don’t know whether that will work or not. We have to wait till we get a response from the Health Ministry to share it with them,” de Silva said.

“Bangladesh are pretty keen to go ahead with the tour and we are also very eager to have them on tour as long we can abide by the guidelines which is laid down by the Health Ministry so that there will not be any issue as such,” continued de Silva.

“If they are agreeable to come for 14 days of quarantine there will not be an issue for both teams. We are still having discussions, it is still in the air. Nothing has been finalised.”

No media

Even if the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Test series goes ahead as scheduled, no media personnel will be allowed to cover the matches.

“If the tour goes ahead the Tests will be televised live, it will be played behind closed doors and no spectators will be allowed and we will also not have any media conferences basically; no contact with any of the players from Sri Lanka or Bangladesh because once they go into a bubble no one will be allowed be in contact with them,” said de Silva.

“The media is unlikely to go through 14 days of quarantine and they will also be in contact with each other. They would not be coming from a bubble so they would come separately. Therefore we don’t want anything to happen and it’s going to be played in one location,” he said. 

“In the circumstance the media will have to cover the matches on television, you cannot be there physically. To be there you’ll have to go through the 14-day quarantine period.”

Bangladesh player shows COVID symptoms

Meanwhile the BCB has reported that a Bangladesh player who was among the 27 to participate in the skill-training camp ahead of the Sri Lanka tour has been isolated after showing “classical COVID-like symptoms”.

Those who came in close contact with him have also been isolated following the latest COVID-19 tests conducted by the BCB ahead of the camp that began in Dhaka on Sunday.