Colombo to host Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe white-ball series in January 2024

Zimbabwe are set to tour Sri Lanka for a white-ball series against the hosts early next year. The tour will comprise three One-Day Internationals (ODI), starting January 6, followed by three T20 Internationals (T20I), played between January 14 and 18 - all at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.

Sri Lanka go into the series at the back of a disappointing ODI World Cup, where they finished ninth, just above the Netherlands, while Zimbabwe failed to make it to the tournament. Sri Lanka and Netherlands made it to the World Cup via a Qualifier, but Zimbabwe failed to secure a spot in the multi-team event they hosted earlier this year.

Zimbabwe have also failed to make the T20 World Cup next year, falling behind Namibia and Uganda in the recent African Qualifiers held in Namibia.

With the attention shifting to the shortest format with the T20 World Cup in June 2023, jointly hosted by the US and the West Indies, Sri Lanka will have six more T20Is - three against Afghanistan at home followed by three away against Bangladesh - ahead of the marquee event.

The ODIs will be played on January 6, 8, and 11, followed by the T20Is, which will be played on January 14, 16, and 18. The games were initially set to take place in Dambulla and Kandy, but with the Under-19 World Cup shifted to South Africa due to the suspension imposed by the ICC on SLC, it was decided that all the matches would be held in Colombo alone.