The New Zealand cricketers will not dodge a date with their long-time tormentor Lasith Malinga who has declared himself fit to play in the World Cup opener.

There remains confusion over Malinga's fitness, however. The man himself says he's far from 100 per cent while captain Angelo Mathews, just moments earlier, had proudly stated he was.

Both agreed he will play in five days' time against New Zealand at Christchurch's Hagley Park in the World Cup's first game.

Mathews may well have been using his speedster's recovery to score early psychological points.

"He's progressed really well and he's back to full fitness," Mathews said. "He's doing everything 100 per cent, he'll be 100 per cent for the games."

Malinga told a very different story. "There's still pain now and I hope I can finish the games," he said.

Malinga had surgery on his landing ankle in September and said it still hurt not only every time he bowled, but with every step he took.

"I'm getting used to the pain because I really want to play in this World Cup. If there's pain, it doesn't matter. I use the injection or whatever. I want to play.

"I'm looking forward to the two [warm-up] matches. All the bowlers need matches. I haven't had that because of the last few months, but still my feeling is I have the right mental preparation. Not the skill preparation, but I have been thinking about my game and I'm feeling good.

"I'm not sure of the pace and how that's going, but I've got good rhythm and a good run up."

Mathews said Malinga was essentially the difference between New Zealand and Sri Lanka during his side's recent 4-2 loss.

Does that bring about pressure for a player like Malinga?

"Honestly, I don't know what the pressure means. I'm used to all the pressure situations. I have a free mindset and I just want to do what I can do," Malinga said.

Mathews beamed as he talked about Malinga's return and said he would "probably" be the difference between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in five days.

When asked if was worried his side were putting all of their eggs in the basket of a fragile bowler, Mathews was quick to reply: "Not really".

"You can't write off the rest of our bowlers, we have fairly experienced bowlers, but obviously Lasith has the X-factor."

The side's two most experienced players, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, said Malinga's return was more important than just his 10 overs, though they knew he wasn't the silver bullet for their underperforming side. "Because of his experience and his presence, he will give us an extra 10 per cent maybe," Jayawardene said.

"I don't think it's just Lasith. I think it's about us playing good all-round cricket. In the seven-match series we had some really good matches and some opportunities that we didn't capitalise on. Lasith coming into the equations gives us a an extra bit of X-factor and yes the others feed off him."

Sangakkara said there was still plenty of room for improvement, but that his team needed more to worry about winning the crucial moments and doing the basics well.

"We want two or three of our players to deliver just a bit more than your normal stock so you can either take the game away from the opposition or hold your own in the crucial moments."

Malinga's return - however fit he is - offsets bad news for the side which has lost seamer Dhammika Prasad to a hand injury.