India A-South Africa A first unofficial Test moved to Thiruvananthapuram

KOCHI: The first unofficial Test between India A and South Africa A has been shifted to Thiruvananthapuram from Wayanad. This was after the Krishnagiri Stadium in Wayanad got damaged during the torrential rain in the region. The Sports Hub, the venue of the five List-A games between the two sides preceding the four-day games, will now host the four-day fixture on the same dates - September 10 to 13 - as per the original schedule.
"The first four-day match which was scheduled to be held at Krishnagiri has now been moved to the Sports Hub in Thiruvananthapuram," KCA secretary Sreejith V Nair told TOI.
TOI had reported on August 10 that the Krishnagiri ground in Wayanad was rendered not fit to host the game after the earth caved in at one of the square boundaries in the heavy rain. There were two options as alternative venues, the Sports Hub and the SNRW Ground in Mysuru where the second of the two unofficial Tests will be held from September 17 to 20.
The Sports Hub witnessed a slew of List-A games last season but this will be for the first time that a first-class game will be held at the venue after a sole Ranji Trophy game between Kerala and Jharkhand in the 2017-18 season. The Sports Hub hosted five one-dayers between India A and England Lions January this year and also four matches of the U-19 quadrangular one-day series involving India A, India B, South Africa and Afghanistan in March.
The Sports Hub, now the major cricket venue in the state as the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi has more or less become an exclusive football stadium, is also set to host an international match for the third year running. India will play the second of the two-match T20I series against West Indies in Thiruvananthapuram on December 8. Last year also, West Indies were the visitors in the final game of a five-match ODI series which India won comfortably to take the series 3-1. Before that, in 2017, the venue hosted its first international match, the third of a three-match T20I series against New Zealand which was a rain-curtailed affair, also won by India to clinch the series 2-1.