Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh today confirmed he was suffering from deep vein thrombosis (DVT) but he expected to be fit for the first Test against New Zealand in five weeks.

Waugh was certain the long flight back from the Ashes tour had contributed to a blood clot in his injured calf muscle, diagnosed as the potentially fatal DVT - or "economy class syndrome".

Typically, Waugh played down his illness although he admitted "the medical people are telling me it is pretty serious".

"It sounds bad but it's a blockage in one of the small veins and it's going to take a little bit of time to be resolved."

The most common complication of DVT is a pulmonary embolism, where a blood clot breaks free from a vein wall, travels to the lung and blocks an artery. A pulmonary embolism can be life-threatening.

Waugh is undergoing blood-thinning drug treatment to dissolve the clot and said the fact it was in a small vein was positive.

"It's a smaller vein so it's not considered to be too serious. It has to be monitored week by week but I'll back before the first Test match.

"All indications are that it's fine that it hasn't progressed. It's stabilised that's the main thing. I hope to be back doing some work next week."

Waugh said the DVT was diagnosed soon after he returned from the Ashes tour.

The captain missed the fourth Ashes Test with a calf muscle tear but returned to limp his way to 157 not out as Australia won the fifth Test at The Oval.

He said a combination of the calf injury and the long haul flight had probably caused the DVT.

"Flying certainly contributed to what has happened.

"There was aggravation in the calf and it was probably not a great time to fly when there's some bleeding in the calf muscle but I thought we monitored it pretty well.

"I had some treatment when I got back home and noticed the soreness was more than what I'd expected or what I had in England.

"I had an inkling something wasn't quite right and with all this talk about DVT you're more aware of it and I just had a feeling it was that, and so did the physio, Errol Alcott.

"We decided to have all bases covered and that was one of the tests we had done and it showed up on that."

Waugh will miss NSW's opening one-dayers against Victoria (Oct7) and Tasmania (Oct 14) and the four-day match against Tasmania (Oct 17-20) but hopes to be back for the four-day match against South Australia starting on October 26 ahead of the first Test.

Waugh was diagnosed just two days after talking to New South Wales team-mate Corey Richards, who suffered DVT after flying home from England in July.

"He cost me actually - he jinxed me," Waugh said.

"I spoke to him about two nights before I got diagnosed.

"I haven't really talked to him about it since but his situation was a little bit more serious than mine. His was in a bigger vein ... mine's a minor case compared to that."

Richards said he was still struggling to regain full fitness three months after being diagnosed.

"It's a little bit more serious than some people think," Richards said.

"I'm only getting there now. I've just finish my course of (blood thinning) tablets and I'm trying to get back to cricket now."

Richards said the blood thinning treatment made it difficult to train hard.

"With the blood being so thin it just makes you fatigued. I've been getting dizzy and tired - my concentration hasn't been what it has in the past."

© 2001 AAP