New Zealand to tour Sri Lanka post the World Cup

The Sri Lankan cricket board made an announcement on Friday stating that a two Test match home series will be followed by three T20 Internationals against New Zealand. The tests will be counted as a part of the inaugural ICC Test Championships.

The first test in Galle will start exactly a month from the date of the World Cup final, with the second match scheduled to begin from the 22nd of August. The venue for it will be the P Sara Oval situated in Colombo. The series will be preceded by a three day practice match played by the visitors at the MCG Katunayake, which is scheduled to take place from the eighth to the 10th of August.

This will be followed by a series of three games of the shortest format, all of them to be played at RPICS, Colombo. The first match will take place on the 31st and will also be preceded by a T20 practice match two days before the advent of the series.

While New Zealand sits in the second spot in the ICC Test rankings, Sri Lanka is four spots below on sixth. The difference is much less in T20Is as New Zealand is ranked sixth while Sri Lanka is in the eighth place. The last time the two teams faced each other in Test series, the Kiwis had emerged victorious 1-0.

The series was given a green light after extended talks regarding the safety and security of the home as well as the visiting cricketers in view of the terrorist attacks that killed many in April. 

Schedule

1st Test: August 14-18, Galle

2nd Test: August 22-26, P. Sara Oval, Colombo

1st T20I: August 31, RPICS, Colombo

2nd T20I: September -2, RPICS, Colombo

3rd T20I: September 6, PICS, Kandy