Different tours have been cancelled because of bilateral relations between two nations or cricket boards. One example was the 2009 tour of England to Zimbabwe because of England ‘s stance against abuse in Zimbabwe. England tried to replace it with an ODI series of 3 matches against Sri Lanka and a Test Series of 2 games. But the newly formed Indian Premier League (IPL) came to this tour as an obstacle.
The Sri Lankan team’s key players will be part of the IPL during the time of the ECB ‘s planned tour of the two-Test matches. The board of the Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) has given their players a three-year no-objection certificate to play in the IPL. At the end of the inaugural edition, a total of twelve Sri Lankans had contracts with IPL teams including Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan. They were scheduled to be part of the tour.
Sri Lanka could not go ahead with the Test series, but there was a possibility of a three-match ODI series. The ODI series has been placed in the proposed schedule after the IPL concluded. There was a suggestion to go ahead with only one-day matches, but later the boards of both countries also agreed to cancel the tour to include test matches. In England’s home season West Indies came in to fill the gap.
