But Otago fast bowler James McMillan is desperate to make a dent during his side's opening HRV Cup match against Wellington at the Basin reserve today.
The injury-plagued speedster has battled his way back from many a setback. He wrote off the 2003-04 summer with a stress fracture in his back. The following season ended prematurely when he damaged his shoulder and, in more recent times, muscle strains have helped keep him off the park.
Tired of limping his way through season after season, he slashed the length of his run-up three years ago in a bid to reduce his susceptibility to injury.
Now 32 and in the twilight of his career, McMillan is determined to make the most of any opportunity - even if it is just a handful of overs at a time.
It appeared as though his career was winding up when he was picked to play in just three Plunket Shield matches last season. But he is back from the brink and is likely to share the new ball with in-form left-armer Neil Wagner today.
"I've just got to keep it simple," McMillan said.
"My job is to go out there and try and bowl quick and, hopefully, take a few wickets."
The odds are pretty stacked against the bowler these days. Bowling and fielding restrictions and short boundaries have all conspired against the pacemen. The trend is towards using slow bowlers to take the pace out of the game and stem the onslaught. But McMillan believes there is "still a place for fast bowlers.
"It is the kind of game where you can bowl really well and still get hit all over the place, or bowl poorly and pick up three of four wickets.
"But I still enjoy the challenge. And everybody still comes to see the fast bowlers bowling as fast as they can and giving it back to the batsmen."
Body willing, McMillan hopes to play for another one or two seasons. And despite getting older, he believes he is capable of bowling as quickly (140kmh) as at any time during his career.
Otago was outplayed by Canterbury in its only warm-up match in Christchurch on Thursday. Canterbury cruised to a seven-wicket win, easily overhauling Otago's total of 142 for seven thanks to half-centuries by Peter Fulton and Michael Papps.
Despite the comprehensive loss, Otago coach Mike Hesson said there were positives to come out of the match.
"It was a pretty ordinary performance," Hesson acknowledged.
"We got off to a pretty poor start. Their import, Mitchell Claydon, bowled extremely well and we struggled to cope with it really. But from there we scrapped pretty hard to get through to 140-odd."
English professional Darren Stevens did his best to resurrect the innings with a hard-hit 48 from 34 deliveries, and Hamish Rutherford chipped in with 29.
Hesson believes this edition of the HRV Cup will be keenly contested, with all six teams capable of beating each other on any given day. However, he singled out Central Districts as a side to watch.
The defending champion got its defence off to a superb start in Hamilton on Thursday, dispatching highly-rated Northern Districts by 78 runs.
With precious little often the difference between victory and defeat, tidy fielding is mandatory and Hesson stressed how important it is to start each innings positively.
"The first four or five overs you are batting are vital, and it is the same with the ball. You need to be really aggressive and set the tone with the ball and back it up in the field to keep guys under pressure."
Sides tend to attack with pace at the top of the innings then look to get through as many overs of spin as they can during the middle overs. Spinners Chris Nash and Nathan McCullum, once he returns from national duty, will perform that duty for Otago.
McMillan will probably be used exclusively at the top of the innings with Ian Butler and Wagner trusted with the difficult task of bowling at the death.
Exciting left-handed opener Hamish Rutherford will looked to recapture the form which helped the Volts win the trophy in 2008-09, and Neil Broom has been a consistent scorer for Otago in the Plunket Shield and one-day tournaments but has not performed as well as he would have liked in twenty/20 matches. He will be looking to correct that.
OTAGO v WELLINGTON
- Basin Reserve, today, 2pm
Otago: Aaron Redmond, Hamish Rutherford, Neil Broom, Craig Cumming (captain), Darren Stevens, Chris Nash, Ian Butler, Neil Wagner, Warren McSkimming, Derek de Boorder, James McMillan, Nick Beard, Sam Wells.
Wellington: Jeetan Patel (captain), Joe Austin-Smellie, Harry Boam, Dewayne Bowden, Marc Calkin, Mark Houghton, Ronald Karaitiana, Chris Nevin, Neal Parlane, Michael Pollard, Stewart Rhodes, Luke Woodcock, Damien Wright, Luke Wright.
