COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will host New Zealand for a two-match Test series during next month’s presidential election, its cricket board said on Friday.

The first Test will begin on September 18 at Galle, but there will be a rest day on Sept 21 when the voting is set to take place, the board said. The final match will also be played at Galle from Sept 26.

New Zealand’s last tour of Sri Lanka was in August 2019, when they drew a two-match Test series with the hosts.

Next month’s presidential election is the country’s first poll since it decl­ared a sovereign default in 2022 during an unprecedented economic crisis.

Months of protests over shortages of food, fuel and medicines forced then-president Gotabaya Raja­p­aksa to step down after an immense crowd of angry Sri Lankans stor­med his compound.

His successor Ranil Wic­k­remesinghe introduced tough austerity measures in line with an IMF rescue package negotiated last year.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2024