End of the road for Kaluwitharana as Sri Lanka name World Cup pool

The international career of Sri Lanka's charismatic wicket-keeper batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana appears to be over after his omission from a 30-man squad for the World Cup next February.

The 33-year-old, who has played 177 ODIs, scoring 3463 runs at 22.20 and claimed 127 catches and 71 stumpings, last played during Sri Lanka's tour of England earlier this year.

Kumar Sangakkara has now established himself as the number one wicket-keeper in both Tests and ODIs and the selectors are now looking at either Hashan Tillakaratne and Tillakaratne Dilshan as back-up.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) had required a 30-man squad to be selected by the end of November. Sri Lanka's final 15-man squad must be selected from this pool according to the tournament regulations.

The final squad is to be confirmed by Dec 31 and the selectors will be watching the final four matches of the South Africa tour and the opening round of matches in the VB Series closely as they try to finalise the make-up of the bowling attack.

Left-arm seamer Nuwan Zoysa, discarded after a disappointing England tour, is in contention for one of those bowling places.

All-rounder Kaushalya Weeraratne, who has been in good form with the ball in domestic cricket this season after successfully remodeling his action, is another player being seriously considered.

Full squad:

Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Russel Arnold, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Upul Chandana, Muttiah Muralitharan, Charitha Buddhika Fernando, Dilhara Fernando, Kumara Sangakkara, Hashan Tillakaratne, Chaminda Vaas, Sujeewa Silva, Hasantha Fernando, Avishka Gunawardena, Pulasthi Gunaratne, Aravinda de Silva, Kumar Dharmasena, Michael Vandort, Jehan Mubarak, T. M. Dilshan, Kaushalya Lokuarachchi, Chamila Gamage Lakshitha, Ruchira Perera, Prabath Nissanka, Tharanga Lakshitha, Thilan Thushara, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Naveed Nawaz, Nuwan Zoysa.