Cricket South Africa announce fixtures for 2018-19 international season

The Cricket South Africa (CSA) has announced the fixtures for their upcoming international season. The Proteas team will play as many as 21 ODI matches before heading in to the ICC World Cup 2019. This comes as a big news for the national side as it provides them ample opportunity to prepare for the marquee tournament. The cricket board finalized the venues and the fixtures for the national side during the phase from July 2018 to March 2019.

The season will kick off with South Africa touring Sri Lanka. After a full tour in Sri Lanka, they will host their neighbours Zimbabwe in 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is. Next in line will be the big tour of Australia. The series will see the two top sides lock horns in 3 ODIs and a couple of T20Is.

This will be followed by the Pakistan tour of South Africa that will see as many as 11 international matches played between the two sides across the three formats of the game. Just before the World Cup 2019, the Proteas will host Sri Lanka for a full tour. The final match of this assignment will be played on March 24. A week later, they will enter the World Cup.

“We now have a concentrated programme of 21 ODIs – 13 at home and 8 away – ahead of the World Cup. This will give the National Selection Panel and the Proteas team management time first to finalise our squad of 15 players to bid for that elusive trophy and then every opportunity to fine tune their game plan accordingly,” commented CSA Acting Chief Executive Thabang Moroe as per the quotes in cricket.co.za.

“I would also like to stress that the other two formats – Test cricket and T20 International cricket – also feature strongly on our list over the next year with 7 Test matches to be played against Sri Lanka and Pakistan and 10 T20 International matches to be played against Australia, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Sri Lanka,” he remarked.

Here is a look at the fixtures:

South Africa tour of Sri Lanka

July 7-8: Two-day practice match, P Sara Stadium, Colombo
July 12-16: 1st Test match, Galle
July 20-24: 2nd Test match, Colombo
July 26: One-day warm-up match, venue to be confirmed
July 29: 1st ODI, Dambulla
August 1: 2nd ODI, Dambulla
August 5: 3rd ODI, Kandy
August 8: 4th ODI, Kandy
August 12: 5th ODI, Colombo
August 14: T20 International, Colombo

Zimbabwe tour of South Africa

September 30 : 1st Momentum ODI, Kimberley
October 3 : 2nd Momentum ODI, Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein
October 6 : 3rd Momentum ODI, Eurolux Boland Park, Paarl
October 9 : 1st KFC T20 International, Buffalo Park, East London
October 12 :2nd KFC T20 International, Senwes Park, Potchefstroom
October 14 : 3rd KFC T20 International, Willowmoore Park, Benoni

South Africa tour of Australia

October 31: Prime Minister’s XI, Manuka Oval, Canberra

November 4: 1st ODI, Perth
November 9: 2nd ODI, Adelaide Oval
November 11: 3rd ODI, Hobart
November 14: T20 Tour match, Allan Border Field, Brisbane
November 17: T20 International, Gold Coast

Pakistan tour of South Africa

December 19-21: Three-day tour match v SA Invitation XI, Willowmoore Park, Benoni
December 26-30: 1st Sunfoil Test match, SuperSport Park, Centurion
January 3-7 : 2nd Sunfoil Test match, PPC Newlands, Cape Town
January 11-15 : 3rd Sunfoil Test match, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
January 19 : 1st Momentum ODI, St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth
January 22 : 2nd Momentum ODI, Kingsmead, Durban
January 25 : 3rd Momentum ODI, SuperSport Park, Centurion
January 27 : 4th Momentum ODI, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
January 30 : 5th Momentum ODI, PPC Newlands, Cape Town
February 1 : 1st KFC T20 International, PPC Newlands, Cape Town
February 3 : 2nd KFC T20 International, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
February 6 : 3rd KFC T20 International, SuperSport Park, Centurion

Sri Lanka tour of South Africa

February 13-17 : 10h00, 1st Sunfoil Test match, Kingsmead, Durban
February 21-25 : 10h00, 2nd Sunfoil Test match, St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth
February 28 : 10h00, One-Day tour match v SA Invitation XI, Willowmoore Park, Benoni
March 3 : 10h00, 1st Momentum ODI, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
March 6 : 13h00, 2nd Momentum ODI, SuperSport Park, Centurion
March 10 : 10h00, 3rd Momentum ODI, Kingsmead, Durban
March 13 : 13h00, 4th Momentum ODI, St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth
March 16 : 13h00, 5th Momentum ODI, PPC Newlands, Cape Town
March 19 : 18h00, 1st KFC T20 International, PPC Newlands, Cape Town
March 22 : 18h00, 2nd KFC T20 International, SuperSport Park, Centurion
March 24 : 14h30, 3rd KFC T20 International, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium

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