England given green light for tour of Sri Lanka

The travelling squad will take a charter flight on Saturday and will immediately undertake two weeks of quarantine

England depart for Sri Lanka on Saturday

(PA)

England's tour of Sri Lanka will proceed as scheduled after the latest round of coronavirus testing yielded no positive results.

The travelling squad will take a charter flight on Saturday and will immediately undertake two weeks of quarantine and training in Hambantota, during which they will be tested every two days.

The ECB confirmed: "Following the Covid-19 testing on 30 December, the touring party for the Sri Lanka Test tour have all tested negative. We fly tomorrow evening."

England's original Sri Lanka visit was postponed in March, and there were fears for the re-scheduled dates following the identification of a new and highly contagious strain of the virus.

The recent white-ball series in South Africa was also cut short after a handful of positive cases at the team hotel left the group mired in anxiety.

PA