England to tour Sri Lanka without the quarantine stipulated for Bangladesh

The England cricket team will visit Sri Lanka to play two Test series in January but the visiting team will not have to maintain 14-day quarantine. In stark contrast, Lankan cricket board stipulated that Bangladesh must maintain strict quarantine measures which ultimately led to postponement of the tour scheduled for last October.

Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva said the English team will maintain 14-day quarantine before reaching the island nation and play two practice matches among themselves upon reaching Sri Lanka.

Silva said the England cricket team will reach Sri Lanka by a chartered flight and will enter a bio secure bubble upon necessary COVID-19 tests.

The Bangladesh team was set to start the Sri Lanka tour on 27 September to play a three-match Test series in October but the tour was cancelled as Sri Lanka was adamant that Bangladesh must remain in 14-day quarantine without any training facilities.

Bangladesh asked for a seven-day isolation period and relaxation of other strict measures stipulated by Sri Lanka, but in vain.

Sri Lankan authorities’ now in the case of England’s tour relaxed most of the conditions they rolled out for Bangladesh.