Brett Lee's Chappell-Hadlee series is officially over before it's begun after the Australia fast bowler was flown home to Sydney this morning for treatment on his badly twisted left ankle.
Lee turned the joint horribly during fielding practice at Wellington's Basin Reserve yesterday, and was taken to hospital for x-rays and scans with agony written all over his face.
While the former cleared him of any major breaks, the results of the latter have yet to be determined.
Australia physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said the decision to fly Lee home was made after the scans were was completed yesterday.
"The best medical management for Brett is to return to Australia and have his scans looked at by Sydney medical staff," Kountouris said today.
Australia's selection panel called South Australia's Shaun Tait in to replace Lee, but he won't arrive in time for the first match today at Westpac Stadium.
Tait will meet the team prior to the second match of the series in Auckland.
Batsman Michael Clarke is undergoing a fitness test to determine whether he will play, having suffered from soreness in his hips during the past week.
Australia's World Cup fate could be determined by the radiologist that inspects the scans of Lee's ankle today.
With the dynamic Andrew Symonds already destined to miss the first half of the game's most important tournament, Lee will be forced to join him on the sidelines as they scramble desperately to regain full fitness.
Lee is arguably Australia's most important limited-overs bowler
Kountouris last night said no decision would be made on Lee's World Cup prospects and immediate future until the results of the scans were assessed.
"If it's ligament damage it can take four to six weeks (to heal) but it depends on which ligaments are damaged. It can also be cartilage or bone that doesn't show up on x-rays."
Even a minor sprain would take at least 10 days for full recovery, Kountouris said, and this was anything but minor.
Lee was left writhing on the ground in agony after attempting to slide and gather the ball in a fielding drill at the Basin Reserve.
His left foot became stuck in the ground and his body weight was flung over the ankle.
"It looked bad at the start," Kountouris said. "He was in quite a bit of pain, felt nauseous and had pain shooting up his leg, which is usually an indication that it's something bad, usually a break.
"The x-rays cleared him of any break but if you damage your cartilage or ligaments around the joint it is also very painful."
The team's luggage van had to be driven on to the ground and Lee was helped into it to be driven to the dressing room before later being lifted into a car and taken to hospital for further examination.
Lee's injury is the latest blow during a difficult fortnight of damaged personnel and morale after Australia was humiliated in the tri-series finals series by England.
Last month Australia was virtually an unbackable favourite to win a third successive World Cup but the campaign continues to unravel at a furious rate.
Clarke, vice captain for the New Zealand series, is also under an injury cloud because of a hip strain and may be replaced in the team at the last minute by the hastily called-up Phil Jaques.
Already without resting captain Ricky Ponting, vice-captain Adam Gilchrist and the injured Symonds, Australia must win at least two of its three Chappell-Hadlee Trophy matches to remain the most highly ranked limited-overs team ahead of South Africa.
Lee is vital to Australia's chances of winning an unprecedented third successive World Cup.
His 267 wickets at 22.65 in 150 matches make him the third highest wicket-taker for Australia in the short form of the game behind Glenn McGrath's 354 at 22.38 in 236 games and Shane Warne's 291 at 25.82 in 193 matches.
Importantly, Lee has the best strike rate of any leading Australian bowler in limited-overs cricket.
Not surprisingly, acting captain Mike Hussey said he would be missed.
"Brett's record for Australia is absolutely outstanding," Hussey said. "If we did lose him it's going to be a loss. There's no question about that.
"He uses the new ball well and gets early wickets for us."
Mitchell Johnson, who had been pencilled in as 12th man today, will now play in Lee's place, although an official team is yet to be announced, given all the injury concerns.
Hussey was clearly uncomfortable with the cramped nature of the schedule, which left yesterday as the only training day before three matches in five days, with two travel days in between.
"It (injuries) is not ideal but it probably hasn't been ideal anyway, finishing the series and having to rush straight over here," Hussey said.
"We've only had one good hit out but we've got a lot of one-day cricket behind us so we're pretty well prepared.
"We probably would have liked a little bit more time in New Zealand conditions."
Should Clarke not play then Jaques will open the batting with Matthew Hayden. But if Clarke is declared fit, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin will open.
Coach John Buchanan claimed on Monday that Shane Watson would open the batting.
But acting captain Hussey said it was important that Watson gained as much experience as possible in the lower middle order after his long lay-off with injury this summer.
"I spoke to Ricky before we came away and we're really keen to leave Shane Watson in the middle order, somewhere so he can learn that art leading into the World Cup," Hussey said.
"That looks at this stage where he's going to be batting in the World Cup.
"Shane's pretty keen to learn and get as much experience in that role as possible."
- TOBY FORAGE and MALCOLM CONN