Sri Lanka's tour of the West Indies one of the rare ones in cricket

Ajit Vijaykumar 12:38 06/06/2018
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  • Sri Lanka begin their first tour of the West Indies in 10 years with the opening Test in Trinidad on Wednesday.

    You have to go back all the way to the time left-arm swing ace Chaminda Vaas was still playing to look at the last visit by the Sri Lankans to the Caribbean. Not only the visit, Test clashes between the two teams are so few and far between there is hardly any history to speak of.

    In the last ten years, Sri Lanka have played the West Indies in Tests just twice – at home in 2010 and 2015. The only other team the Sri Lankans have played so few Tests against is Zimbabwe. Australia and South Africa have played three Test series against Sri Lanka in the same period, New Zealand and England four, Bangladesh five, India six and Pakistan eight.

    When it comes to Sri Lanka and the West Indies, it is finances that have dictated their Test history. Since both boards are not flush with funds, broadcast money has a say in which series goes ahead and which doesn’t. And since there are very few takers for a SL-WI Test series from a commercial point of view, the teams simply don’t play each other, especially in the Caribbean.

    And it’s a shame because it was against Sri Lanka that Chris Gayle – the king of T20 cricket – hit his highest Test score of 333 in 2010.

    Just to shine some light on the commercial impact on cricket schedule, just look at India-Sri Lanka clashes last season. India travelled to Sri Lanka for a full tour of three Tests, five ODIs and a T20 in July last year before inviting the islanders for three Tests and as many ODIs and T20s in November.

    Following India’s visit, the Sri Lankan board registered 33 fold increase in net profit in one year while doubling revenues.

    Recently, Cricket Australia cancelled the tour of Bangladesh to the country later in the year as it was not found to be commercially viable after signing a record $1 billion TV deal.

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