Reports: Australia's tour of Sri Lanka gets green light

As per the latest developments, Australia‘s tour of Sri Lanka will go ahead as planned. The visitors will play three T20Is, five ODIs, and two Tests in the island country. There were speculations about the series being delayed or postponed due to the ongoing civil unrest in Sri Lanka, but the boards of both countries have confirmed that the series will go ahead as per schedule.

Australia will kick things off with the T20I series, the first to be played on 7th June at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo. Amid the ongoing turmoil in Sri Lanka, with the country being short of fuel and medicines and struggling with rolling power cuts, the three T20Is and five ODIs were moved to day games. But the Sri Lanka Board has now confirmed that the matches will be played under lights.

“There is no disruption in the schedule and the white ball games will be night or day-night affairs,” SLC secretary Mohan de Silva said on Tuesday.

Australian players are hoping for a hard-fought series

Australian captain Aaron Finch will be looking to end his lean run of form in the upcoming limited-overs series against Sri Lanka. Australia, who will be hosting the T20 World Cup later this year, is hoping that cricket might be able to put a smile on the faces of Sri Lankan people in these tough times.

“We are always well looked after by CA, security, and the information we are given, so it’s exciting to hopefully put a bit of a smile on the Sri Lankan faces,” Alex Carey said to Fox Cricket.

The Australian board also restated that their players are looking for a tough contest on the Sri Lankan shores as they look to test their skills ahead of the T20 World Cup. 

“We’ve been keeping in regular contact with the governments of both countries and SLC and all is good and there are no changes to the plans. The T20 squad is leaving Australia tomorrow afternoon. They’re looking forward to the tour, with the three T20 games an important part of the build-up to the ICC World Cup in Australia in October-November. The squad has great respect for the Sri Lanka team and are anticipating a hard-fought and exciting series,” a CA spokesman was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.