Captain Kane Williamson appears on track to play for the Blackcaps in their Cricket World Cup opener against England next Thursday (NZ Time).
Speaking at Christchurch airport on Wednesday before departing for host nation India, Williamson confirmed that he plans to have "some involvement" in the team's two warm-up matches against Pakistan and South Africa.
The white-ball skipper says his knee is "progressing well", but whether he features in both of those matches is yet to be determined.
"Although it's going well, you still have days that vary a little bit and it's sort of working through those warm-up games to get as much out of it as I can," Williamson said.
"Strong desire to basically be involved in it as much as I can."
Kane says he's been relatively pain-free over the last few weeks. But as his workload increases, he's aware so too will the discomfort in his knee.
While he's now running freely, the biggest obstacle he faces is finding a way to stop.
"Not so much the sprinting more the slowing actually.," he explained.
"So, from sprinting the breaking and a little bit of change of direction but it's all been part of the plan and introducing it towards the end of the recovery."
Considered one of the Blackcaps' best fielders, Williamson says the plan is for him to continue to field at mid-off, which he admits is "slightly better suited" to his knee than square of the wicket.
Williamson's progress is part of a double-dose of good news on the injury front for coach Gary Stead, who also has captain and star bowler Tim Southee, on track for their opening World Cup match against England on Thursday (NZ time) next week.
"We've shown in the last month or so that we can beat England who are one of the best teams in the world.
"You don’t have to beat them every day, you just have to beat them on certain days."
