England were supposed to play two Tests on the tour © AFP

England's two Test series in Sri Lanka, which was set to begin next week, has been postponed because of concerns related to coronavirus, the ECB confirmed on Friday (March 13).

As of Thursday evening, the ECB had said that the tour was proceeding as planned but that circumstances were "changing rapidly". Following discussions overnight between the ECB and Sri Lanka Cricket, a decision was made to postpone the tour and bring England's squad and support staff.

The ECB have stressed that this is a postponement rather than a cancellation and they hope to reschedule the series at some point in the future, particularly given the matches are part of the World Test Championship. Whether that is possible remains to be seen, however.

England's schedule is jam packed and the only two windows currently available are between the end of the T20 World Cup and Christmas, although Sri Lanka have an ODI series against Bangladesh at the end of December, or in April 2021 but that would overlap with the IPL. The World Test Championship final takes place at the beginning of June.

An ECB statement 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 U.K 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 decisions 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''