Sports

Sports

England tour on as scheduled
By S.R. Pathiravithana
"The England cricket tour of Sri Lanka will go on schedule," confirmed the secretary to Sri Lanka Cricket Mohan de Silva yesterday. The three Test, Three one-day international tour will get underway on November 13, and will go on till December 24.

Earlier on Thursday speculation set in when the British Home ministry sent out a travel warning to Sri Lanka in the aftermath of sensitive political buildup that prevailed in the country.

Reciprocal to this warning the English Travel Company Gulliver Sports Travel who have booked around 400 top bracket English tourists to Sri Lanka on the duration of the tour sent wire to their Sri Lankan agent George Steuarts inquiring whether they could make a refund in case of the England Tour to Sri Lanka was cancelled. However the local Travel company by then already invested that money on the purchase of tickets and making the hotel arrangements.

At this point the English Cricket authorities had a dialogue with Sri Lanka Cricket and defused the situation while the Sri Lanka Tourism Ministry also put out a statement negating any explosive situations in the country.

Meanwhile reports reaching from Bangladesh states that the English " Barmy Army " were set to come to Sri Lanka if the England tour goes on as scheduled. The local tourist trade was also awaiting the arrival of the English Cricketers where they had made elaborate arrangements. Around 5000 English tourists are expected to gather in Sri Lanka during this time.

Back to Sports