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| Saturday, 15 January 2005 |
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Is it the proper time to reschedule Tests? by Sa'adi Thawfeeq Rescheduling the two Tests against New Zealand for April may not be the wisest thing for Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to do. According to Sri Lankan expatriates living in New Zealand the weather at that time of the year is not suitable for cricket. Sri Lanka are due to play the two Tests in New Zealand from April 4-8 and from April 11-15 in addition to a 3-day warm-up game from March 28-30. The venues are yet to finalised by New Zealand Cricket (NZC). Muhammad Iqbal, honorary commissioner at the Honorary Tea Commissioner for Sri Lanka in New Zealand writes: "I was most shocked and very upset to see the Television ONE News wherein stating that the Sri Lankan Cricket Team are coming back to continue the cricket encounter during the middle of April this year. "I have lived in New Zealand since 1969 [almost 36 long years] and have been used to the climate and weather conditions in Auckland. The New Zealand summer time ends in the month of March! And, unlike the Australian continent, the weather in New Zealand no doubt gets cooler and definitely unsuitable for the out-door summer sport of Cricket. The Sri Lankan Cricketers are very special and to expose them to the cool weather will certainly be unkind to them. "As there is an adequate time period of 18 months to reschedule the Cricket Series - why not fix the matches from mid December this year. Many of the Sri Lankans in New Zealand have also been concerned when our Cricketers come over to play scheduled games in mid February and early March. It was decided that they should not come over to New Zealand to play cricket after the first week in February." Further NZC chief executive Martin Snedden quoted by news agencies said: "Scheduling of Sri Lankan Test matches in April during New Zealand's autumn has weather risks. The climatic conditions in early April are normally similar to those in March, but we are confident that Test cricket can be played at this time of the year." SLC chief executive Duleep Mendis said that they had got assurances from NZC that cricket can be played during that time of the year. "Within the 18-month period we are expected to reschedule the postponed fixtures, this was the only time free to both countries. We had no other option," said Mendis. Mendis also stated that the four remaining one-day internationals against New Zealand will be played in January 2006 shortly before the VB Series triangular in Australia where Sri Lanka will be one of the three participating countries. |
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