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ANTIGUA - Mark Gillespie is sure he'll play a part in the remainder of the World Cup after recovering from a bizarre viral infection that robbed him of power in his right shoulder.
One of New Zealand's big improvers this summer, the aggressive right-armer missed the first four games of the tournament after falling to the condition during the flight to Los Angeles, and may well miss Tuesday's outing against Bangladesh .
Gillespie appeared free moving at practice yesterday and seems a reasonable chance to play against Ireland in Guyana on Tuesday week, after which New Zealand will move to Grenada to play Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia.
"I'm confident that I'll feature at some stage. If I wasn't going to play I don't think I'd be here - I think I would've gone home.
"I've just got to get up to speed as quick as I can, and I'm looking forward to my next game - I just hope it's sooner rather than later."
Gillespie, who contracted a throat infection that attacked the nerves in his right shoulder, first noticed the problem while trying to wash his hair in Los Angeles.
It was diagnosed as an acute neuritis. He was unable to bowl or throw and was to go home if he failed a fitness test in Antigua.
"It was pretty tough when I was struggling," he said. "I was at the point where I thought things could be all over. It wasn't responding, it was just aching. There's still some pain but the aching has mostly gone away and I can live with it.
"I feel a lot better now. I'm nearly back to full match fitness, I'm just fine-tuning things. I'm a lot better now in terms of throwing. When I last tried throwing, things went downhill so this is much improved. I'm back."
Gillespie, who sprang to prominence during New Zealand's tri-series campaign in Australia, said he was given a steroid injection that took away the nagging ache and allowed him to concentrate on taking a full part in practice.
He said the symptoms of the condition had changed dramatically since he was initially affected and that - though he still had some immediate pain when operating - he was feeling much less restricted and was keen to get back on the park.
"I had a dead arm with no pain whatsoever. And then it completely reversed; the strength came back but it came back with pain."
As for Tuesday's outing against Bangladesh, Gillespie is anxious to get some overs under his belt, and would jump at the chance to play his first World Cup game at the new Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Bracewell said yesterday Gillespie had satisfied the team medical staff of his fitness and was an option for Friday's game against the West Indies.
"Mark was considered for the last game. From the time that he got through his fitness assessment earlier in the week he was in the frame and was training for selection. But as it turned out, we went with what we thought was our best combination for that particular game."
