Sri Lanka’s front-line spinner Rangana Herath is recovering well and looks likely to face South Africa in Wednesday’s World Cup quarter-final at the SCG , chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya said on Monday.

Herath, 36, split the webbing between two fingers on his bowling hand trying to take a return chance off Jos Buttler in a thumping defeat of England on March 1.

The left-armer missed the last two pool matches against Australia and Scotland but the stitches have been removed from the wound and he will be given until training on Tuesday to prove his fitness.

‘Rangana is recovering fast and I hope he will be alright,’ Jayasuriya told reporters beside the nets at the SCG.

‘The stitches have been taken off and he’ll be ready for the match. That’s what I’m thinking, it will depend on today and tomorrow, probably tomorrow.’ – Reuters

HOMEBOUND UAE PRAISE MORKEL, STEYN

World Cup amateurs United Arab Emirates prepared to head home to their day jobs on Sunday with words of thanks to South African pacemen Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and one regret over a dropped catch against Ireland.

The UAE’s World Cup comeback, 19 years after their one and only previous appearance, ended with a sixth straight loss when the West Indies pulled off a six-wicket win at McLean Park in Napier.

‘It was a satisfactory performance from us, but we know we could have done better,’ captain Mohammad Tauqir said.

Morkel and Steyn were singled out for a ferocious spell of intimidatory bowling which Tauqir took as recognition that his team of part-timers deserved to be part of cricket’s one-day showpiece.

‘I’m very thankful to them for bowling to us they way they did,’ said Tauqir, who scored three before he was bowled by Steyn.

‘By facing them it gave us a lot of confidence. We almost played 48 overs in that match and it was the most hostile bowling we faced in this tournament.’ – AFP