South Africa will travel to Sri Lanka for a series of two Tests, five one-day internationals and a one-off Twenty20 International in July-August this year, the cricket boards of the two countries announced on Wednesday 4 April.

South Africa, No.2 in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Team Rankings for Tests and ODIs, will reach Sri Lanka on 4 July. The visitors will be playing one two-day tour game and then get started with the series of two Tests against the sixth-ranked Sri Lankans, says an ICC press release.

At the end of the two Tests, the South African limited-overs team will get a chance to get used to the conditions with a one-off 50-over warm-up game before the start of the ODIs, which will be followed by the tour-ending T20I.

‘This will be a very important tour for us,’ said Cricket South Africa Acting Chief Executive Thabang Moroe. ‘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.

‘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.’

Sri Lanka, ranked No.8 on the ODI table, will provide tough competition especially in their backyard, Moroe felt. ‘The ODI series forms an important part of our team preparation for next year’s 2019 ICC World Cup in England,’ he said. ‘Sri Lanka have always provided very tough opposition under their home conditions and I am sure this tour will be no exception. We are all looking forward to some very competitive cricket.’

Schedule

7-8 July: Practice match in Colombo

12-16 July: First Test in Galle

20-24 July: Second Test in Colombo

26 July: 50-over warm-up match – venue TBA

29 July: First ODI in Dambulla

1 August: Second ODI in Dambulla

5 August: Third ODI in Kandy

8 August: Fourth ODI in Kandy

12 August: Fifth ODI in Colombo

14 August: One-off T20I in Colombo