West Indies to tour SL next month

By Madushka Balasuriya

The West Indies will tour Sri Lanka in February for three ODIs and two T20Is, Sri Lanka Cricket has confirmed. 

The Windies are expected to arrive in the island on 10 February, and they will play two warm-up games on 17 and 20 February before the first ODI on 22 February. The first of the two warm-up matches will be an unofficial encounter at the P. Sara Oval, while the second game against a Board President’s XI at Katunayake will mark the official start of the tour.

Apart from the warm-ups, one of the five limited-over contests will take place in Colombo. The SSC will host the first ODI, which will be a day game; usually limited overs matches in Colombo take place at the Khettarama Stadium, however the stadium is still undergoing renovations.

The second ODI (day/night) on 26 February will then see the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Hambantota host its first match in almost three years, the last being an ODI between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in July 2017.

The final ODI (day/night) on 1 March will see action moving to Kandy, where the teams will stay for the start of the T20I series on 4 March. The second and final T20I will be held on 6 March. All three matches in Kandy will be hosted at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.

Sri Lanka have played nine T20Is against the West Indies, winning six of them, while their last 10 ODI encounters against the same opponents have seen eight wins and two losses. However, the teams have only faced each other once in limited overs cricket since 2016 - a dead rubber at the 2019 World Cup that saw Sri Lanka come away 23-run winners.

The last bilateral series between the sides was in 2018 when Sri Lanka played three Tests in the West Indies, drawing the series 1-1. The West Indies last toured Sri Lanka in 2015, where they lost the ODI series 3-0 and drew the T20Is one game apiece.