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Sri Lanka’s tour of the West Indies was delayed yesterday after the Covid-19 test positive of the head coach Mickey Arthur and top-order batsman Lahiru Thirimanne.
All players and staff were set to start training for the West Indies tour went through PCR testing on Tuesday, and both were tested positive for Covid-19.
Both Mickey Arthur and Lahiru Thirimanne will be taken to a quarantined hotel identified by SLC today. Other players who were their close friends have been made to self quarantine.
While Lahiru Thirismanne went to the wedding of wicket-keeper Sadeera Samarawickrama on Tuesday, Mickey Arthur was having a break after the series against England.
The fitness tests that were set to take place on Friday will be postponed to next week. Sources said that there would be another PCR test on 10th February, and depending on the result of that, it will be decided when the team went through fitness tests.
There was quite a lot of interest among cricket fans after SLC stated on Tuesday, that the players would go through a fitness test introduced by new trainer Grant Ludden. Selected by other international teams like Australia and India, this fitness test demanded players to complete a 2-kilometer run within 8-minutes and 35 seconds. The team now has an extra few days to train to take over the line.
SLC had set an accurate estimate during the England series to make sure that no players of the team and the member of the staff tested positive of the Covid-19 virus. This series was played in front of the empty stands.
Sri Lanka was set to play 2 Tests, 3 ODIs, and 3 T20I against West Indies. The players will now prepare for the bilateral series against Bangladesh that is announced to take place in April.
SLC’s decision to reschedule the West Indies tour comes after a mere 24 hours after Australia called off their tour of South Africa because of a new variant of the virus.
