Sri Lanka's tour of the Windies in February has been postponed after coach Mickey Arthur and player Lahiru Thirimanne tested positive for COVID-19.
Sri Lanka's tour of the West Indies in February-March 2021, which included two Tests, three ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals has been postponed after Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur and player Lahiru Thirimanne tested positive for the coronavirus. All the players had come for a training camp to prepare for the West Indies series which was going to begin on February 20 but on conducting the RT-PCR Test, it was found that Mickey Arthur and Lahiru Thirimanne have tested positive for coronavirus. All the other players who were in touch with them have been asked to go in isolated quarantine. Sri Lanka cricket will find a quarantine hotel for the duo and will renegotiate with the Windies Cricket Board for a suitable window.
According to a report in The Island Online, Lahiru Thirimanne had attended the wedding of his team-mate Sadeera Samarawickrama and that Mickey Arthur was taking a break. Following these developments, Sri Lanka has decided to postpone the fitness test and another test will be conducted on February 10. The result of the tests will be a guiding post as to whether the new fitness regime, prepared by Grant Luden can go ahead. This fitness test required players to finish a two-kilometer run within eight minutes and 35 seconds and this has been adopted by teams like Australia and India.
'No idea how I got it'
Mickey Arthur on Thursday said that he is not sure how he picked up the virus as he has not done much after the England Test series got over."Thank you to everybody who has sent their wishes, not sure how I picked up Covid because I have not done much post the England series but just shows to everybody be careful and stay safe," tweeted Arthur.
Sri Lanka Cricket released a statement which said, "Following PCR Tests carried out on the provisional squad, which was preparing to take part in the national team`s upcoming tour of West Indies, head coach Mickey Arthur and Sri Lanka Player Lahiru Thirimanne have tested positive for Covid-19. They have detected following PCR Tests carried out yesterday (February 2) for the entire 36-member squad, along with the coaching staff, net bowlers, and the HPC Staff," the cricket board added.
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