IRELAND’S TOUR OF SRI Lanka in 2020 has been postponed due to a broadcasting issue, Cricket Ireland have confirmed.

Ireland had been due to play their prospective hosts in a single Test match between 8-12 February next year.

However, the tour was not part of Sri Lanka’s existing broadcast agreement, which was made in 2013 prior to Ireland becoming a Test nation.

ICC regulations require all Test matches to be televised, and so due to the lack of a broadcast partner for Ireland’s tour, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) requested that it be rescheduled for a later date which will fall under their next broadcast agreement.

“SLC notified us of their preference to postpone the fixture last week, and we requested a swift announcement by SLC to notify travelling fans and media as quickly as possible of the postponement,” said Cricket Ireland in a statement released on Wednesday. “We have agreed to SLC’s request 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 date for that rescheduled match will be announced in due course.”

Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Deutrom added: “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. 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.”