JOHANNESBURG, March 4: Concerns are growing over Jason Gillespie’s World Cup participation after the Australia fast bowler was sent for a scan on his sore right Achilles on Tuesday.

The injury, which has kept Gillespie out of the world champions’ last two matches against Namibia and England, has failed to respond to treatment.

“It hasn’t improved since the problem initially occurred and that is not ideal,” team physiotherapist Errol Alcott said in a statement on Tuesday.

“It is hard to speculate on how he is until we get the test results back within the next 48 hours.

“We would expect to know more about the immediate future when the results of the scan come through,” he added.

The injury was originally thought to be relatively minor and Gillespie’s absence from the game against Namibia was said to be “precautionary”.

However, the problem flared up again on Saturday when Gillespie broke down in training before the match against England and that has led to the decision to get the Achilles scanned.

For Gillespie, who was Man-of-the-Match against India with figures of three for 13, the injury is the latest in a series of fitness problems that have dogged his career.

“It has been disappointing to miss the past two games especially as my form and fitness had been good up to the Namibia game,” Gillespie said on Tuesday.

In Gillespie’s absence, Andy Bichel has grabbed his chance with both hands, taking two wickets in the one over he bowled against Namibia and following that with seven for 20 and 34 not out to win the match against England.

“Those sort of performances are special and are obviously proving we have a lot of depth,” added Gillespie.

If Gillespie is ruled out of the tournament, Australia are likely to call Brad Williams of Victoria, Nathan Bracken of New South Wales or Queensland’s Ashley Noffke into the squad.—Reuters