Cricket World Cup: Speedster Adam Milne ready to rip through Windies

Adam Milne offers the potential to demolish opposition. Photo / Getty

Balls in high 140km/h range have potential to demolish batsmen.

If there's one New Zealand player for whom the World Cup quarter-final shapes as pivotal, it is Adam Milne.

Milne missed the Bangladesh fixture after a shoulder injury against Afghanistan but looks sufficiently recovered to try to give the West Indies their comeuppance on Saturday.

The 22-year-old must be aching to prove he can rip through an order at the tournament as teammates Tim Southee (with seven for 33 against England) and Trent Boult (five for 27 against Australia) have.

Picking Milne has always had logic. By bowling in the high 140km/h range and, on occasion, edging into the 150km/h bracket, he offers the potential to demolish opposition.

There was evidence during the New Zealand A tour to the United Arab Emirates in November and December. Signs of Milne's erratic past diminished as he cleaned up Ireland's tail to take five for 33 and took three for 24 against the UAE.

"People know I can bowl fast but I've been working on that consistency," Milne said after the UAE game when the locals slipped to 21 for five by the 12th over. "I've grooved my action better to help with line and length. It's always good to see batsmen jumping around."

The batsmen looked to be enduring cricket's equivalent of a game of paintball.

Those performances led to a national recall. Before the World Cup Milne played nine ODIs this summer, returning 12 wickets at 32.08 and conceding 4.84. He took wickets in all but one match, opened the bowling five times and delivered his allotment on five occasions as well. He went for more than a run-a-ball in just two matches.

Milne's five World Cup appearances have yielded fewer opportunities in the wake of his teammates' success. He has bowled only 35.2 overs, taking four wickets at 39.25 at an economy rate of 4.44 runs an over.

Bowling at first change against the West Indies could be his time to intimidate and prove the value of his extra pace. New Zealand need wickets to thwart momentum. Milne can fit that brief. The build-up is also the perfect opportunity for departing bowling coach Shane Bond to impart his wisdom.

Yesterday Daniel Vettori hinted Bond had already played a key role with his charges at the tournament.

"He'd be the first to admit he's got fantastic stock to work with, both within and outside the group ... Those guys have fed off Shane and he's loved working with such talent."

Milne's place in the starting XI is one to be cherished, considering the strength of the challengers.

Mitchell McClenaghan blew out with none for 68 from eight overs against Bangladesh but still has the fifth-best ODI strike rate (26.3) of those to bowl more than 1000 balls.

During the West Indies ODI tour in 2013-14 he took eight wickets at a strike rate of 20.

Meanwhile Kyle Mills restricted Pakistan with two for 29 in his most recent ODI, at Wellington. He's dismissed West Indian opener Chris Gayle six times in 11 ODIs.