Sri Lanka suffer dual World Cup injury blow

Sri Lanka will be forced to make at least two changes for Sunday's crunch Cricket World Cup clash with Australia in Sydney, with wily veteran spinner Rangana Herath ruled out.

The 36-year-old, left-arm Herath has been ruled out after splitting the webbing between his spin fingers in the side's last-start win over England.

Officials are hoping Herath will return before the knockout phase of the tournament, with Sri Lanka scheduled to play their quarter-final in Sydney.

However, batsman Dimuth Karunaratne will miss the rest of the World Cup after suffering a broken finger during Thursday's training session.

"He has to undergo surgery and will be out for about four weeks," Sri Lanka's chairman of selectors Sanath Jayasuriya said.

"He will return home and we have requested the ICC technical committee to include legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna in the squad as his replacement.

Prasanna had been flown over as cover for Herath.

International Cricket Council (ICC) rules stipulate any injury-enforced changes to a squad are permanent.

As such, Prasanna would only have played against Michael Clarke's men if Herath was ruled out of the tournament.

Karunaratne's injury has seemingly solved that issue, ensuring Sri Lanka will wield a frontline spinner for Sunday's game.

It leaves the squad short a batsman, with Jayasuriya revealing Kusal Perera will travel to Sydney as a "precautionary measure".

The loser of the weekend's fixture at the SCG will almost certainly finish third in Pool A.

That would come with the challenge of a likely quarter-final against South Africa, then a potential semi-final against New Zealand in Auckland.