Welegedara's chances improve for Champions Trophy

Chanaka Welegedara's prospects of traveling to England for the Champions Trophy have improved, after a scan on his landing foot and ankle revealed no breaks or fractures. He has not been fully cleared however, and will be assessed in the next two days before a final call is made on whether he can join the touring squad, which departs on Sunday.

Welegedara left the field in pain after having bowled 2.4 overs in a domestic one-day match last Saturday, and has not played or attended training since.

"The scans showed that there was only inflammation around the area," team manager Michael de Zoysa said. "He will go through some fitness tests and will be putting weight on it, so we have to wait and see."

Welegedara, 32, had been the leader of Sri Lanka's Test-match pace attack, but has been plagued by injury in the last 12 months, in which he only completed one Test match. He strained his groin playing England in March last year, before tearing a shoulder muscle before the Pakistan series in July. He recovered in time to travel to Australia at year's end, but tore a hamstring early in the second Test in Melbourne, and has not played any international cricket since. Largely regarded a Test specialist, Welegedara has not played limited-overs international cricket since June 2010.

He is one of four specialist fast bowlers named in the 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy, with Lasith Malinga, Shaminda Eranga and Nuwan Kulasekara also picked. Farveez Maharoof, who is not in the national squad but may have been a potential replacement, was also injured during the match and will likely be unavailable for two weeks.