Sri Lanka Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa is likely to attend his national team’s second test match against South Africa in Johannesburg in January next year, Cricket Age Exclusively learns.
Sri Lanka are scheduled to play South Africa in two Tests forming the ICC World Test Championship at Centurion from 26-30 December and at Johannesburg from 3-7 January. The team is due to leave for South Africa on the morning of 18 December at the end of the ongoing Lanka Premier League (LPL) taking place at Hambantota.
“The honorable Sports Minister has shown his desire to attend the second test, which will definitely be a morale booster for our players in this challenging time, when entire world is reeling under the threat of Covid virus. If he attends, it will be great” an insider at Sri Lanka High Commission office told Cricket Age.
Earlier in the day, the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) decided to go ahead with the upcoming South Africa tour amid the Covid-19 scare in the host nation. The decision was taken after the consultation with Sri Lanka’s high commissioner and Namal Rajapaksa.
“Both Honorable Sports Minister and high commissioner were on the opinion that we must go ahead with the tour, taking all the precautions. We even offered South Africa to come to Sri Lanka and play the series, but they refused” a top SLC official had told Cricket Age.
On December 7, England’s tour of South Africa was called off following the outbreak of Covid-19 among both teams’ camps and staff at their hotel. The decision came after the opening ODI of the series was pushed back three times in four days, having originally been scheduled to take place at Newlands on Friday, before failed attempts to stage games at Paarl on Sunday, and at Newlands again on Monday.
“We are sending two doctors before the scheduled departure of the national team to assess the arrangements” the top SLC official added.
