Future tours of Sri Lanka announced - heavily busy cricketing season awaits the side

What's the story

Starting this December, the Sri Lankan cricketers will be looking to have a highly engaging three-month cricketing season, with three back-to-back Test tours scheduled for the side, causing them to be away from home for the entire period of time. Prior to those tours, the team will be hosting England at home for two months, which means that the side will be featured in nine different Test matches in total, across a period of four months and in three different continents, from October 2018.

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A brief look into Sri Lanka's series plans ahead:

#1. October - November: England tour of Sri Lanka - Five ODIs, one T20I, three Tests.

#2. December - January: Sri Lanka tour of New Zealand - Three-day warm-up match, two Tests, three ODIs, one T20I.

#3. January - February: Sri Lanka tour of Australia - Three-day warm-up match, two Tests.

#4. February - March: Sri Lanka tour of South Africa - Two Tests, one-day warm-up match, five ODIs, three T20s.

The details

The details of the latest future tours of the side were released by Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) on August 1, 2018. In between matches, the players will also have an abundance of match practice with the board deciding not to cut short on practice games.

Among the games between December and February is a New Zealand series that will feature a few limited over games after the Tests, when the team's Test specialists could actually return home for a short rest period. However, the SLC has decided to send them to Australia earlier than the rest of the side, so that they can adapt themselves to the conditions down under. The team will play a couple of Tests there as well, immediately after the Kiwi tour.

SLC CEO Ashley de Silva asserted the importance of practice matches in Australia and New Zealand before playing in actual games. "Those matches are not confirmed yet, but are both likely to be three-dayers, with the one in Australia set to be a pink-ball encounter, ahead of the day-night Test in Brisbane," he said, before adding: "Once the New Zealand Tests finish, our Test players will go straight to Australia."

Following the Australian tour is the South African tour. The first Test in Durban set to start on February 13, which means there are only a minimum eight days for the team to travel to the nation and learn the conditions there. The Test series will conclude on February 25, after which the Islanders will play the Proteas in five ODIs and three T20Is, in addition to a single one-day warm-up match.

What's next

Sri Lanka are currently involved in a series with South Africa at home. They won the Test Series 2 - 0 and are 0 - 1 behind in the ODI series with the second game happening right now. They will play three more ODIs and one T20I against the Proteas.

Afterwards, according to the above details, Sri Lanka will thus play in nine Tests, 13 ODIs and five T20Is between October 10, 2018, and March 24, 2019, in addition to all the warm-up matches and practice games. It is highly possible that players will be rested across various intervals throughout the season, keeping in mind their fatigue levels ahead of the 2019 Cricket World Cup which begins next May.