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At 193cm and 114kg, and with a full ginger beard, Luke Vivian looks like a lumberjack.
His axe, though, is a massive 1.5kg hunk of willow that goes by the name Conqueror.
Vivian is one of the biggest hitters of a cricket ball in this country. The odd
bowler has had their offering dispatched recently onto the roofs of neighbouring houses at Eden Park's outer oval while at Pukekura Park a fortnight ago, Vivian knocked six sixes out of the ground.
His match-winning innings for Auckland of 55 from 18 balls against Central Districts was his first eye-catching knock and he followed that up with another 30 off 21 balls against Canterbury.
He's not one to hang around.
"My role for Auckland is to go in after about eight overs, have a look at a couple of balls and then hit it as far and as hard as I can as often as I can," he says with a grin.
One of his sixes against Canterbury earlier this month was described by commentator Martin Crowe as the biggest he had ever seen as Eden Park.
Vivian is the new breed of cricketer, the specialist Twenty20 player.
Australian David Warner is something of a pioneer in that respect, having recently became the first Australian in 132 years to play for the national side without having played first-class cricket. He became an instant hit with an innings of 89 off 43 balls against South Africa.
Vivian has never played a first-class match either -although he played six unremarkable one-dayers for Canterbury in 2006-07 (57 runs at an average of 11.4) - and at 27 had all-but given up on playing at the highest level. But then along came T20.
"I had given up on playing for New Zealand a long time ago, and I still think I'm a long way away from doing that, but you never know who's watching," he says.
"Even if it's a small opportunity, it's still worth a go."
India is now seen as the land of milk and honey. Cricket's top T20 players need wheelbarrows to take home their earnings and even 'lesser' players can fill their pockets with wads of cash. Vivian would love to find a few greenbacks in his bank account.
His biggest chance, initially, is with Auckland.
The Aces face Otago at Eden Park in a top-of-the-table stoush that will decide one of the protagonists for next Sunday's provincial final.
The winner of the domestic competition has a chance to play in October's Champions League tournament being played in India.
"That's the big thing," Vivian says. "You never know what might happen if we won the New Zealand competition.
"The amount of money being thrown around now is enticing and most people would find it hard to say no.
"[T20 specialists] will only become more common. The game is growing in India and the money will increase.
"It's definitely an avenue for players of my type who might not make it in the longer version."
Many thought Vivian was destined to make it as a youngster. He broke Martin Crowe's single-innings record at the Auckland under-14 championships and flayed bowlers to all directions of the ground.
He became bogged down, however, by information overload and tried to be everything to everyone rather than focusing on what worked for him.
He largely dropped off the radar in Auckland before moving to Christchurch to follow his girlfriend where he "fell in love" with cricket again and was called up to the Canterbury one-day side.
He had stints as a club professional in both England and the Netherlands before returning to Auckland to play for Howick Pakuranga.
Vivian's beard is a feature every summer as a defence against sunburn and he's had a few nicknames over the years - Ogre, Tito (as in Paul Tito), Vivs and now The Viking.
He doesn't mind any of his monikers, nor the fact he will be pigeon-holed as one type of player.
With T20 around now, the rewards are worth it.
