England's Test tour of Sri Lanka has joined the growing list of sporting events to be postponed due to the spread of coronavirus.

In a statement on Friday, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed it had made the decision to return its players to the United Kingdom following discussions with Sri Lanka Cricket, "due to the COVID-19 pandemic worsening globally".

England were set to play two Test matches in Sri Lanka, starting on March 19 and 27. They completed their first warm-up fixture against a SLC Board President's XI in Katunayake last week and began another game against the same opposition in Colombo on Thursday. Joe Root's side were on the field contesting the latter fixture when the news was announced, but play was soon suspended.

The ECB confirmed its intention to reschedule the Tests against Sri Lanka as soon as possible.

It added: "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."