England’s two-Test match tour of Sri Lanka has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The squad were already in the country and were due to play the first Test next week.
But the decision has been taken to abandon the England tour with the players returning home.
A statement by the ECB read: “Due to the Covid-19 pandemic worsening globally, and after discussions with Sri Lanka Cricket, we have today made the decision to return our players to the UK and postpone the forthcoming Test series between Sri Lanka and England.
“At this time, the physical and mental wellbeing of our players and support teams is paramount. We will now look to bring them home to their families as soon as possible. These are completely unprecedented times, and decision like this go beyond cricket.
“We would like to thank our colleagues at Sri Lanka Cricket for their outstanding support and assistance throughout this situation. We look forward to returning to Sri Lanka in the very near future to fulfil this important Test series.”
Elsewhere, the Indian Cricket Board has pushed back the start of the IPL season to April 15 as a precautionary measure.
It had been scheduled to start on March 29.
The Australia vs New Zealand ODI series, meanwhile, will be played behind closed doors.
The County Championship season is due to begin in April but there has been no official announcement as to whether it will go ahead as planned yet.
Some clubs have taken the step of cancelling their overseas pre-season tours.
