Maheesh Theekshana complained about the tough schedule and logistical complications that Sri Lanka have been dealing with at the 2024 T20 World Cup in North America, following their defeat against South Africa in their opening fixture.

Playing their first game of the tournament against South Africa at the newly built Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, Sri Lanka folded for a meagre 77 and lost the game by six wickets.

Sri Lanka face scheduling and logistical nightmares at the T20 World Cup

After the match, Theekshana, who bowled just one over for three runs, spoke in detail about how Sri Lanka have been handed a rough deal in terms of scheduling.

"It's so unfair for us, we have to leave every day because we are playing [at] four different venues," he said. "It's unfair. The flight we took from Florida, from Miami, we had to wait like eight hours in the airport to get the flight. And we came around. We were supposed to leave at 8pm but we got the flight at 5am. It's really unfair for us, but it doesn't matter when you play."

Theekshana was referring to the fact that Sri Lanka are one of only two teams along with the Netherlands to have been scheduled to play their first round games at four different venues - New York, Dallas, Florida, and St Lucia respectively.

18 of the 20 other teams play more than one game in at least one venue in their first round fixtures. In fact, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Uganda are scheduled to play three out of their first four games at a single venue, minimising travel and maximising their chances of getting acclimatised to conditions, a privilege not available to Sri Lanka.

Apart from the tough schedule, Sri Lanka have also had to deal with other logistical misfortunes. Their flight from Florida to New York was delayed by several hours and their team hotel in New York was a significant distance away from the venue, requiring them to travel more than a hour and a half one way.

 

"I can't say the names of the teams that have got the opportunity to stay in the same place but their hotel is only 14 minutes to the ground. Ours was like one hour and 40 minutes," Theekshana said while adding that they had to cancel one of their training sessions because of fatigue and the distance they had to travel.

"Because even from the hotel, it's one hour and 40 minutes. Even today [match day vs South Africa], we had to wake up around 5am to come here. All four games in four venues. It's hard.

"We didn't know [anything about the conditions]. This was our first game in New York. Next game in Dallas, we don't know [anything about the conditions]. Next game is in Florida where we played two games, that's the only plus point we have.

"I can't say the teams that are playing in the same venue, so they know what the conditions are like. They're playing practice games at the same venue. No one will get that. We played the practice games in Florida, and our third game's in Florida.

"There's some things that I think that everyone will rethink about next year because I know that this year, nothing will change. Our management is trying to fix today's flight also because we are playing, we have to pack everything and [leave]," he said.

Sri Lanka's next assignment is against Bangladesh in Dallas on June 7, before they go to Florida again for their game against Nepal on June 11. Their final first round fixture is against the Netherlands in St Lucia on June 16.

Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.

Related tags:

Maheesh TheekshanaWanindu HasarangaMatch CoverageSeries EditorialSri Lanka cricket news