Boyd Rankin pulls out injured, Nigel Jones called up

Irish opening bowler Boyd Rankin has had to pull out of Ireland's upcoming games in Sri Lanka. He has been replaced in the squad by CSNI's Nigel Jones, who has played two previous games for the senior side.

Rankin had this to say about his injury: "I’ve been diagnosed with a stress reaction in my right foot, and am wearing a protective cast. It’s not broken but it needs to be rested for four or five days. It was picked up by the physios and doctors at an ECB training camp in Loughborough earlier this week. We’ll see where we are then depending on how sore it is. I’ve been told it could take between two or three weeks to fully heal, but we’ll know more when I get it checked out again next week at Warwickshire, where I’ll be doing my rehabilitation."

Coach Phil Simmons said: "Nigel’s a talented player who is a useful bowler and a very talented batsman. He’ll come in for the Sri Lanka leg of the tour. We’ll not make a decision on the Twenty20 World Cup Qualifiers until we get an update on Boyd’s fitness."