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With Tim Southee hospitalised and Daniel Vettori and now Rob Nicol both discomforted by stomach bugs, the New Zealand cricket team's diet has become the subject of almost as much scrutiny as their cricketing skills. - Source: Photosport -
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Never mind carefully picking a suitable meal from the hotel menu, the gastroenteritis afflicted Black Caps should have been drinking King Coconut milk.
With Tim Southee hospitalised and Daniel Vettori and now Rob Nicol both discomforted by stomach bugs, the New Zealand cricket team's diet has become the subject of almost as much scrutiny as their cricketing skills, ahead of their Twenty20 World Cup opener against Bangladesh here in Kandy.
Plenty of people have got theories about what the Black Caps should, or shouldn't, have been eating in the leadup to Friday's opening group D clash at the nearby Pallekele Cricket Stadium, including the man who drove this reporter up to Kandy from Colombo.
The players should have been on the King Coconuts, he said, which are apparently a cure for most things that might ail you.
Having pointed some out on a tree, our erstwhile driver soon pulled up at a roadside stall and ordered two of the proprietor's finest coconuts.
Politeness dictated that one had to be sampled and, at the time of writing, there were no ill effects to report.
The same couldn't be said for Southee's condition yesterday.
Having been too ill to participate in Monday's nine-run loss to South Africa in Colombo, his situation worsened yesterday.
From having started the day as an unlikely starter to travel with the team on the three-hour road trip to Kandy, Southee was soon a definite "no" and then transferred to hospital as the effects of dehydration took hold.
His condition was not considered serious, but it was decided the best way to rehydrate him was via a drip.
Nicol, meanwhile, didn't make the trip either.
He had played in the loss to the Proteas, scoring 37, but felt unwell after the match.
His illness should work its way through his system overnight and he is expected to rejoin the squad today, while Vettori bounced back fairly well from his own bout of stomach trouble and was able to travel to Kandy.
Just as an aside, it's a fair trip the one to Kandy. The scenes and driving habits will be familiar to anyone who has travelled in developing countries before, as all manner of vehicles jockey for position.
Not to mention an elephant, which was less inclined to respect the toot of the horn than the rest of the road users.
Southee would now have to be a huge longshot to play Bangladesh, but he and, perhaps Nicol, aside, the rest of the 15-strong group should be available for selection in a match that will go a long way towards defining New Zealand's role in the tournament.
If the Black Caps win, and they should, then a smooth passage into the Super Eight phase ought to await them.
Lose, and they can all start having a think about what they would like to eat when they get home.
It hasn't been an ideal buildup, with both warmup matches being lost - the other being against Australia - blokes falling ill and others such as Brendon McCullum and Kyle Mills getting over knocks and niggles.
On that basis, it made perfect sense for coach Mike Hesson to think training might be counter-productive and instead look upon yesterday as a travel-only day.
Of course, for hosts Sri Lanka and their opponents, Zimbabwe, it wasn't. They were set to duel in the tournament opener at 2am (NZ time) today.
There is the odd poster featuring Lasith Malinga, or Kumar Sangakkara promoting a telecommunications company on some massive billboard that suddenly appears out of the undergrowth.
Otherwise, though, there's not a lot to indicate that Sri Lanka are about to host a high-profile world tournament.
Sangakkara's success at the ICC awards seems to be a source of pride, but it would be pushing it to suggest there's a whiff of cricket madness in the air.
More like airborne bugs that suddenly make cricketers very sick.