Gillespie injury scare for New Zealand

New Zealand are hopeful that the injury scare to Mark Gillespie, the medium-fast bowler, isn't serious and that the team can adapt to Caribbean conditions. Gillespie, 27, boarded the flight to the West Indies with a numb right arm but Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, expected that he would be fit for the start of their first-round World Cup game against England on March 16.

"He's had paralysis of his right arm which is not great when you're a right-arm bowler. But that'll be short term," Fleming told reporters before New Zealand departed for the World Cup.

New Zealand first play Bangladesh in a warm-up match in Barbados on Tuesday, and Fleming stressed on getting the team acclimatised. "Getting used to the conditions is the key," he said. "If it's going to give us an indication of what the other pitches are going to be like, then we've got to assess it well and make sure that while looking forward, we start getting combinations that we think will best fit the conditions."

Fleming, 33, believed New Zealand's mixed run - they failed to make the finals of the CB Series but walloped Australia 3-0 at home - was an indicator of where the team was.

"We felt we were doing some good things before that, but that we needed to start winning," he said. "That gave us a lot of confidence. We're also realistic that over here, things can really change. The World Cup is not necessarily about form going into it, it's about form during it."