On Wednesday, Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) issued a release that the originally planned three-Test tour of Sri Lanka in August 2018 has been reworked into a two-Test series which will be accompanied by a five-match ODI series and a one-off T20I. The revised tour will begin from July 12 with the first Test taking place in Galle. The second Test will begin from July 20 in Colombo.

CSA’s acting CEO Thabang Moroe described the tour as an important one. “This will be a very important tour for us. We have a lot of exciting, young players coming into our side in all three formats and, with so much of our international cricket being played on the subcontinent these days it is important they get used to those conditions as soon as possible,” he said.

The CEO added the tour will give a chance for the cricket team to test out some of the players in overseas conditions. “Many of them have played very little cricket over there and indeed some none at all. For instance, we can look forward with tremendous anticipation to the performances of our leading Test match spinner, Keshav Maharaj, who has yet to play a Test on the subcontinent,” he said. As per the release, the ODI series will begin from July 29 in Dambulla with the T20I fixture to be played on August 14.

South Africa are slated to reach Sri Lanka by July 4 and will play a two-day practice match at the P Sara Oval in Colombo from July 7. They will also play a one-day warm-up game on July 26.

Fixture:

1st Test Match – 12th to 16th July – Galle

2nd Test Match – 20th to 24th July – SSC

5 ODIs

1st ODI – 29th July – Dambulla (Day)

2nd ODI – 1st August – Dambulla (D/N)

3rd ODI – 5th August – Pallekelle (Day)

4th ODI – 8th August – Pallekelle (D/N)

5th ODI – 12th August – R. Premadasa (D/N)

Only T20I

14th August – R. Premadasa (Night)