Sri Lanka have postponed their scheduled one-off home Test match against Ireland next February year due to the lack of a broadcast partner, the country’s cricket board announced on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka’s current broadcast agreement for home matches was inked in 2013, at a time when Ireland were yet to secure a full member status.
Ireland was scheduled to play Sri Lanka in a one-off Test from February 8th-12th in the southern coastal city of Galle.
“Sri Lanka Cricket in consultation with Ireland Cricket decided to reschedule the tour to a later date to ensure that the proposed one off test match will come under the next broadcast agreement, which SLC is planning to sign with a prospective partner during the year 2020,” the SLC said in a statement.
“The new dates of the tour will be announced, once confirmed.”
The news comes just days after Ireland were forced to cancel next year's home test against Bangladesh, which chief executive Warren Deutrom described was due to a "number of financial headwinds" faced by the board.
In a statement released at lunchtime on Tuesday, Deutrom outlined that planning for the trip to Sri Lanka was well advanced, while also pointing out that Cricket Ireland were aware that Ireland supporters had already made plans to travel for the Test.
“We understand that ICC regulations require all Tests to be broadcast, and it became clear only recently that this one-off match was no exception. We were far progressed in our planning for this short tour, so we and the travelling squad are obviously disappointed,” said Deutrom.
“Most of all, we are deeply sorry for those family, friends, cricket fans and media who would have gone to such trouble to make arrangements to travel to Galle for the match. Rest assured we shall work as quickly as possible with SLC to identify an alternative slot for the match and we shall communicate that as soon as it is confirmed. We’d like to thank the Ireland fans for their continued support and understanding.”
