Herath's World Cup over, Kaushal on brink of debut

Luke Sheehan

Herath's World Cup over, Kaushal on brink of debut image

An 11th-hour squad change has seen Sri Lanka replace spinner Rangana Herath in their Cricket World Cup squad, with Tharindu Kaushal in the mix to play South Africa on Wednesday.

Herath's battle against time to recover from a finger injury failed, with the Sri Lankans recruiting off-spinner Kaushal - who has been cleared to play in their quarter-final against the Proteas in Sydney.

Herath, 36, was struck on the hand by a Jos Buttler straight drive, in Sri Lanka's win over England on March 1.

Kaushal, 22, is yet to make his one-day international debut, while he has represented Sri Lanka in one Test - picking up two wickets against New Zealand in the Boxing Day Test in Christchurch.

Since his international bow, Kaushal has picked up 47 wickets in seven first-class matches for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka - and he is set to be rushed in for their sudden-death encounter.

Kaushal flew to Australia earlier in March in case Herath did not pull up fit, and has been training with the squad.

Herath became the fifth Sri Lankan to succumb to injury at the tournament, after paceman Dhammika Prasad, batsmen Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal, and all-rounder Jeevan Mendis.

Luke Sheehan