Cricket: Milne's variations key to selection for T20 tournament

Central Districts pace bowler Adam Milne is the shock selection in the New Zealand squad for the world Twenty20 tournament to be played in Sri Lank next month. Photo / Getty Images.

Adam Milne may be one of the quickest bowlers in the country but new Black Caps coach Mike Hesson likes what he sees in the right-armer because of his ability to vary his pace.

The Palmerston North 20-year-old was the only major selection shock when New Zealand Cricket confirmed their 15-strong squad yesterday to meet India in a two-match Twenty20 series early next month and contest the world Twenty20 tournament in Sri Lanka that starts on September 18.

Milne played two Twenty20 matches for the Black Caps in late 2010 as an 18-year-old but fell victim to some aggressive batting from the touring Pakistanis and New Zealand's embarrassingly small grounds.

"Adam's got a large skill set, not just his pace," Hesson said of the youngster.

"He's got a variety of slower balls, which in the subcontinent will be critical; he's also got the confidence to bowl those. So, even though he's young and he's got a bit of pace about him, he's also got some skill."

Of the squad that was beaten 2-0 by the West Indies in their recent Twenty20 series in Florida, Andrew Ellis, Dean Brownlie and Tom Latham have all been axed.

Roneel Hira (finger) and Daniel Vettori (groin) have both overcome injuries to be fit for selection, while James Franklin will rejoin the squad after spending the New Zealand winter playing Twenty20 cricket for Essex in England.

New Zealand are in Group D with Pakistan and Bangladesh at the global tournament and open their campaign against Bangladesh on September 21 before meeting the unpredictable Pakistanis two days later.

The top two teams from each pool will progress to the Super Eight stage where they will have a chance to push on to the semifinals and final.

The New Zealand squad has largely the same look to that which was beaten comprehensively by the West Indies, but Hesson, who is about to embark on his first tour in charge of the Kiwi side, said they had the type of players who could make a splash in the game's shortest format.

"Naturally in terms of Twenty20, we've got a lot of good stroke players so it's a matter of allowing them to play to their strengths. We've also got some left and right-handers, which will be very important to us, especially in the Bangladesh game.

"We've got bowlers that have a good change of pace, we've got to keep developing our death [bowling] skills and that's an area we've got to keep working on. But our spin bowling's a strength."

Hesson admitted confidence was down among the troops given the beating they took at the hands of the West Indies in all three forms of the game recently but he said they had to keep their expectations realistic.

"I don't think anyone's going to go over there with the expectation that we are going to blow sides away. We've got a good squad.

"We've got to prepare well and we've got to use the time that we've got left to make sure that we perform well when we get there."

New Zealand also meet India in two test matches from August 23-27 and August 31 to September 4, before cricket's most polarising form of the game takes control with the Twenty20 encounters to be played on September 8 and 11.

TWENTY20 SQUAD

Ross Taylor (c), Doug Bracewell, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Roneel Hira, Rob Nicol, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Daniel Vettori, B.J. Watling, Kane Williamson.