Sri lanka’s injury woes are just not getting over and this time it is skipper Angelo Mathews who underwent a scan on his Achilles tendon after hurting himself in his team’s 148-run victory over Scotland in Hobart. Mathews, who hit 6 sixes in his fiery 21-ball half ton against Scotland on Wednesday, had to stay most of the time in the dressing room in the second half of the innings. Sri lanka has already made five injury replacements with batsmen Dimuth Karunaratne, Rangana Herath and Dinesh Chandimal, all-rounder Jeevan Mendis and fast bowler Dhammika Prasad getting injured. But for now, Matthews says his injury is manageable. “I think he is cramped up at the moment. Hopefully he will be OK. I think he’s going for a scan on Friday,” Thirimanne told reporters after the match.
Black Caps’ new ball specialist Adam Milne is unlikely to feature in the Friday match against Bangladesh which would give left-armer Mitchell McClenaghan his first entry into the World Cup. Milne injured his right shoulder while diving to take a catch against Afghanistan on Sunday. “We want to have a look at (Milne) again in the morning,” McCullum said. “He’s still a little bit stiff and sore, so we’ll have to make a call on that,” he added.
The Pakistan game against Ireland on Sunday would be an emotional one for more reasons than one. Of course, Pakistan are desperate to win against Ireland to cement their position for the quarterfinals of the 2015 event. But far more than that, the Pakistanis want to win this one as a tribute to their former coach Bob Woolmer who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in his hotel room in Jamaica a day after Pakistan lost to Ireland in the 2007 World Cup. The two teams meet eight years after that grave incident and even though the only player in the Pakistani camp who was in the team then is Younis Khan, the entire squad would be playing to win and in a bid to exorcise the ghost of being ousted by minnows on March 17, 2007.