Rankin recovering well from foot injury

Boyd Rankin is recovering well from the foot injury that ruled him out of Ireland's tour of Sri Lanka and the World Twenty20 Qualifiers in UAE in February, and expects to be fully fit and available for the World Twenty20 in West Indies, which begins on April 30.

"I'll be fine for the West Indies," insisted Rankin. "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 county side, for whom the tall seamer has been with since 2007, will be in Bloemfontein for two weeks from March 10 for a training camp. They will be playing a one-day and a two day game against a local side made up of provincial players.

Rankin, 25, has played in 20 one-day internationals, taking 28 wickets at 24.75, and four Twenty20 internationals and has also caught the attention of the England selectors, being included in the fast bowling programme for the 2009-10 winter. He was Ireland's leading bowler at the World Cup in the West Indies in 2007, taking 12 wickets at 27.

Ireland have been drawn in Group B at the World Twenty20 along with hosts West Indies, who they play on the opening day in Guyana, before taking on an England side featuring former team-mate Eoin Morgan on May 4 at the same venue.