Ready to rip into tourists with hostile bowling

wrist position, and keeping the seam nice and upright and hopefully it develops from there.”

The 23-year-old from Palmerston North has played 25 ODIs, taking 24 wickets at 38. He’s also played 10 Twenty20 internationals, for eight wickets at 32. While he has been pigeon-holed as a one-day specialist, Milne still hankers for a chance in the test game. There’s a queue developing there, headed by Tim Southee and Trent Boult, with Doug Bracewell, Neil Wagner and Matt Henry in behind.

But Milne’s ace is his pace. He’s got no plans to dial it back. He knows it can be his strength.

“I really enjoy bowling fast and having the crowd behind you hearing them get excited. Seeing batsmen get a little quicker in their movements or feeling a bit rushed, it’s always exciting. I feel like whole team can feed off that.”

Milne’s injuries have tended to involve the shins but he’s learning more about body management.

“You can’t bowl 150km/h-plus every ball, every game. It’s learning how to manage the times you bowl quick and how you train. If you’re trying to go flat-out 24/7 every day, it’s not going to work out.”

Still, Milne has no desire to settle for being a stock standard fastmedium bowler.

There’s a frisson around the ground when he’s in top gear, and New Zealand are hoping Sri Lanka are on the end of that in the coming days.