A SHADE below two metres, Driaan Lubbe has all the attributes of a bowler who should give batsmen a hurry up.
But the strapping lad will be the first to admit he's probably a few wheat biscuits shy of making the willow whackers defy gravity to recoil in a bid to protect their ribcage.
"Even I can tell I'm not as fast as I used to be but, with every game, I'm getting faster," says Lubbe, who umms and aahs before putting himself into the medium-fast category of spittle shiners.
Admittedly the 19-year-old right-armer is taking it easy as he prepares to make his Hawke Cup debut today in Hawke's Bay's first qualifying match of the 2011-12 season against Taranaki at Nelson Park, Napier.
The former Lindisfarne College pupil hurt his back at the end of last summer while playing for his school first XI team.
"I had pinched a nerve in the lower back somewhere and it had got right down my left leg," he elaborates on an injury that kept him from bowling for his Victoria University team this year.
"It's the first injury I've ever had and I think it was because of a lack of warm-up and stretching and I tried going too hard," says Lubbe, an ex-CD under-17 representative whose best bowling figures are 7-30 for Lindisfarne First XI against Scots College, of Wellington.
The psychology major student has had experts scrutinise his bowling action to ensure he doesn't end up in the scrap heap of speed merchants.
"I love hitting the deck hard to get some seam movement going," says Lubbe, who made his senior men's debut a fortnight ago in the Kirk Cup match against Poverty Bay in Gisborne where the Lincoln Doull-coached side retained the silverware after chasing down 160 runs on the foundation of Bronson Meehan's unbeaten 74.
"Driaan's a tall lad. He's not express pace but he's reasonably quick and gets a lift off the wicket," Doull says of Lubbe who took a wicket off his 10 overs, including three maidens, for 25 runs.
"He hasn't set the world alight or anything, but he's as good as we get right now," the former first-class player says as the Bay men feel the effects of a dearth of fit and experienced seamers all the way up to the Central Districts Stags.
If nothing, Lubbe becomes an unknown quantity for Taranaki who will be without Peter Ingram and Jarrad Cunningham, who Aaron Zame and Tom Bruce will replace, respectively.
Lubbe is back at home from uni with parents Andre and Johleen Lubbe and brother Johan, 15, who plays for the Lindisfarne Colts side.
His father, a horticulturalist and former cricketer in South Africa, got Lubbe's cricketing juices flowing while he was a youngster at Greenmeadow School where mother Johleen taught.
"Dad was a pretty good bowler and batter. He had such a love for the game that it brushed off on me," he says, simply satisfied now to play the best he can and see where it takes him.
"I feel very privileged to get the call up, not having bowled much this year, and also being among a pool of talented players [in Bay men's team]," says the Taradale premier club cricketer, who settled in New Zealand at the age of 5 when his family emigrated here.
He believes his major in psychology, a subject the Bay skipper also tackled at university, after the final year will also hone his mental fortitude.
The Bay men have put aside the disappointment of stumbling on the last hurdle of the Chapple Cup with a mediocre batting display.
The Gisborne game became a good stage for Doull to try new players such as spinner Angus Schaw and Toby Doyle.
The newcomer is Taradale's Luke Kenworthy, a top order batsman.
The Hawke Cup also marks a commitment from Heretaunga Building Society Cornwall batsman Michael Taiaroa who has secured a full-time job.
"It's good for us because he has a good record and is available for the entire summer," Doull says of the talented batsman who chalked up a bumper season in Ireland during winter.
Ruahine Motors Central Hawke's Bay batsman Stephen Pimm also returns from injury to open with Meehan, with Morten Freer coming in at No3.
Complete Flooring Napier Technical Old Boys allrounder Stevie Smidt is back just as a batsman after his debut with the CD Stags left him with a rib injury, but 13th man Kenworthy may replace him.
Although the weather is coming right, Doull doesn't think there's been enough sting in the sun to bake the Nelson Park wicket. That negates the need for a specialist spinner in a 12-man side that offers non-batting and non-bowling options.
"We don't think we'll need one and we'll go with a medium-pace attack with De Terte and Meehan who can bowl off spin."
Liam Rukuwai and Craft and Hern Sports Havelock North seamer Kurt Richards will be the new-ball option with Lubbe, Jacob Smith and Luke Wright among the first-change contenders.
Taranaki player Jamie Watkins, in outlining the Chapple Cup as a one-dayer is different from the two-day Hawke Cup clash, feels they have as good a chance as any team to beat the Bay.
"We were a little undercooked at Nelson Park because we were going on to grass for the first time," Watkins explains, adding pitches aren't ready in New Plymouth that early in the season.
Having played on grass wickets in the past three weeks, they are better prepared with a useful top order of Dean Robinson returning from CD after filling for Ingram who missed the match against Otago Volts in Christchurch this week because of family bereavement.
"We have ability to bowl but Josh Barrett is playing his third game, Kurt Leuthart his fourth and offspinner Robert McLeod his fifth."
Watkins says the young brigade members are inexperienced in the number of matches they have played but not lacking skills or confidence. "We've had some good battles with Hawke's Bay in the past five to six years in the Hawke Cup and we're pretty even," he says.
With Stags Mathew Sinclair, Tarun Nethula, Carl Cachopa, Kieran Noema-Barnett and Black Cap Doug Bracewell out of the equation, any minor union team in the country will fancy their chances of a win.
BOTH TEAMS:
The line-ups for the Hawke Cup match this weekend at Nelson Park, Napier:
HAWKE'S BAY: James De Terte (c), Bronson Meehan, Morten Freer, Michael Taiaroa, Stephen Pimm, Jacob Smith, Stevie Smidt, Luke Wright, Liam Rukuwai, Kurt Richards, Driaan Lubbe, Seb Langridge (wicketkeeper).
13th man: Luke Kenworthy.
Coach: Lincoln Doull.
TARANAKI: Dean Robinson, Aaron Zame, Dion Ebrahim (c), William Young, Ryan Fleming, Tom Bruce, Travis Stewart (wicketkeeper), Jamie Watkins, Hayden Whiting, Tom Bruce, Josh Barrett, Kurt Leuthart, Robert McLeod.
Coach: Kerry O'Neill.