Ireland pace bowler Boyd Rankin is recovering well from his foot injury, and expects to be available to play a full part in the ICC World Twenty20 next month.
The 25 year old opening bowler suffered a stress reaction in his right foot which caused him to miss both Ireland’s tour of Sri Lanka in January, and the World Twenty20 qualifying tournament in the UAE in February.
Rankin is now almost fully recovered saying: 'I'll be fine for the West Indies. The foot is nearly fully healed now. The plan is to start gradually building up bowling when Warwickshire arrive in South Africa for pre-season.'
The English county side will be in Bloemfontein from 10-26 March for a training camp. They will be playing a one-day fixture plus a two day game against a local side made up of provincial players.
Rankin has happy memories of the Caribbean, having played a starring role as Ireland announced themselves on the world cricketing stage, recording famous victories over both Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Rankin took 12 wickets during the tournament, including Younis Khan, Stephen Fleming, Michael Vaughan, AB de Villiers and Herschelle Gibbs.
Ireland have been drawn in Group B along with hosts West Indies, whom they play on the opening day (30 April) in Guyana, before taking on England, including their former team-mate Eoin Morgan, on 4 May at the same venue.
Meanwhile, Cricket Ireland have announced some changes to their tour of Jamaica next month when they play a series of fixtures against both the host island and the West Indies.
Due to operational reasons, the scheduled four-day fixture against Jamaica has now become a three-day game and will take place between 3-5 April.
They will then play a 50-over fixture against a Jamaica XI on 7 April, before a T20 game on 10 April.
Next up on the revised itinerary sees Ireland play a West Indies XI in a T20 game on 11 April, before a full One-Day International between the sides on 15 April at Sabina Park.=
The tour will conclude with two further T20 fixtures between Ireland and a West Indies XI, on 17 and 18 April, again at Sabina Park.
The sides are of course scheduled to meet each other in Guyana on 30 April in the opening day of the ICC World Twenty20.
