Boyd Rankin to be fit to play World Cup

Irish quick bowler, Boyd Rankin has expressed his confidence that he will recover quickly enough from his foot’s stress fracture to be able to take his slot in the side for the World Cup.

Rankin could not be a part of Ireland’s recent tour of India that saw the side play some practice games to get used to the tracks in the sub-continent. However, he has said that he should start bowling from the first week of December and by January, he should
be back to full fitness.

Rankin was the star performer of the Irish side in the previous World Cup in the West Indies. The 26-year old has 33 wickets at an average of less than 25 in the 23 games that he has played with an economy of less than five runs per over. 12 of these wickets
came in the previous World Cup where his 3/32 against Pakistan pushed them out of the tournament.

According to Rankin, he had started with his training drills and will look to continue with it for a week. He added, “I should be bowling again next week when I go to Loughborough and it will be two weeks there, a week at Warwickshire and another week at Loughborough
before Christmas to make sure I am as best prepared as I can be. But this time we are taking it more slowly to make sure there are no more problems.”

Ireland will take part in the World Cup next year for only the second time in their history after they won the qualifying tournament by beating Kenya in the finals last year. Ireland is placed in Group B along with India, South Africa, West Indies, England,
Bangladesh and Netherlands. Each group has seven teams who play each other in a round-robin. The top four qualify for the quarter-final, something that will be Ireland’s aim. To do that, they will need to win at least three of the matches and Rankin could
hold the key to their success.