Adam Milne is still recovering from right elbow surgery. PHOTO/Paul Taylor
IT is said the moral arc of cricket starts and ends on how much the elbow bends, bowling or batting.
Flex it too much in bowling and you'll come under scrutiny from the white shirts.
Don't bend it enough to plant your head between the elbows while batting and the chances are you'll be trudging off the batting crease somewhat cheaply.
Needless to say, the elbows of Devon Hotel Central Districts Stags cricketers Adam Milne and George Workerare among some of the best in the country.
However, the elbows have been rendered out of action for now because of injuries.
"Milneys come back from the IPL with a right elbow injury so two months ago he had an operation on it but it's still playing up a little so he's in rehab check right now," says CD coach Heinrich Malan of the speed merchant who played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore last year.
The 24-year-old Black Caps right armer from Palmerston North has been ruled out of the one-day international series of India at the conclusion of the current India tour.
With allrounder Worker it's a lot more complicated and the frustration is obvious when you ask Malan what's up.
"If I knew I'd love to tell you," says the South African coach in resignation. "It's really niggly and easily inflammatory so it's causing him a lot of discomfort."
The 27-year-old left-hand top-order batsman's left elbow is causing him untold grief.
Malan says Worker, of Palmerston North, was playing for a club team in England for two months but had decided to return home earlier for some rest, recovering and rehabilitation.
"He's now playing around with all the variations in rehabilitation but it's taking us much longer than what we would have liked," he says of the player who can bowl left-arm spin and made his international debut against Zimbabwe in the Twenty20 format in August last year.
Just as he did towards the end of last summer here, Worker was confined to the slip cordon to ensure he didn't strain his arm too much with throwing from too far out.
The Stags are holding a four-day camp in Napier from Monday next week, three weeks before they begin their domestic campaign and expectations are the players will come right.
Last week CD captain William Young, Milne and seamers Ben Wheeler and Seth Rance played in a New Zealand Cricket inter-squad, white-ball match in Lincoln, near Christchurch.
"Milney was purely batting at No 6 to develop that part of his game," says Malan of the Black Cap who has played seven ODIs and six T20 internationals.
He says it's imperative for Milne to be in top shape rather than slipping on the fern only to find he is incapable of crossing the line because of a recurring injury.
"Part of his development is playing four-day cricket [domestic Plunket Shield for CD]," says Malan who feels Milne can offer another dimension to Black Caps coach Mike Hesson as a test bowler "so it's a balancing act".
It pleases the Stags coach that Young racked up about 80 runs in the inter-squad game to again reassert himself as a batsman worthy of international call up.
"It depends on the make up and balance of the Black Caps team."
While the 23-year-old from New Plymouth is adept at batting at No 3 for the Stags Malan believes he's capable of dropping to the middle order.
He is mindful the Black Caps may opt to open with wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi while flirting with the option of dropping out-of-form opener Martin Guptill to No 5 to regain his confidence.
"Players like [captain] Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor have been doing the job at No 3 so it's the next cab off the rank."
With Pakistan, South Africa and Australia still to play, he feels his charges, including Wheeler and Rance, should be able to push their CVs this summer.
Malan says former Black caps Jesse Ryder is back from England.
"He's in Wellington at home with his family," he says of the 32-year-old allrounder who has been playing for Essex in county cricket.
Ryder also will be in the camp from next week.