Colombo: South African cricket team is almost ready to return home on Monday night without waiting for a decision to be made following Monday's bomb blasts which killed seven persons.
The decision is to be taken at a meeting with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) authorities and Indian team management on Tuesday.
The team was only awaiting a green-signal from the International Cricket Council (ICC) to quit the Unitech Cup tri-series, also involving India and the hosts Sri Lanka, without playing even a single match.
"After gathering all the facts the team management will meet Sri Lankan officials on Tuesday at 10 am and a final decision will be taken," team manager Gordon Templeton had said earlier on Monday.
The South African team management has expressed serious concerns about the security of its players after witnessing the second bomb explosion in last seven-eight days.
It was also learnt that the players were not very keen on playing here after the security delegation sent by the Cricket South Africa (CSA) recommended them to go home following the explosions.
Counting all these factors along with the fact that CSA Chief Executive Gerald Majola was also supporting the players, ICC may also agree to let them to leave the series and go home without imposing any penalty.
The bomb exploded not very far away from their team hotel barely hours before the opening match was scheduled to start against hosts Sri Lanka at the Premadasa Stadium on Monday.
"The South Africa team management went into a meeting with the SLC and the Indian team management on Monday afternoon. We are getting recommendations from our security personnel," Templeton said, reflecting the mood in the Proteas camp, which was in contrast to that of the Lankan and the Indian teams.
SLC media co-ordinator Samantha Algama said SLC was concerned with the situation but had decided to go ahead with the tournament after taking into account the exact security scenario.
"The SLC Chief Executive Officer Duleep Mendis held a meeting with the coaches and managers of the three teams and it was decided to provide maximum security to the teams, which was already in place," she said.
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