Action movies fan Neil Carter hopes to be the star of his own thriller at the Stanford Super Series, writes Jon Batham.
The Warwickshire all-rounder found himself on the plane to Antigua with Middlesex on Sunday after becoming a last-minute loan signing in place of Dirk Nannes.
Carter, who relaxes by watching James Bond films, hopes to be given Licence to Thrill and scare The Living Daylights out of England, Trinidad & Tobago and the Stanford World XI - leaving them in need of A Quantum of Solace.
While the South African doesn't possess the 90mph pace of Nannes, he is a more destructive hitter than the Australian.
Carter said: "I'm an action movie man - and that's what I like to do on the field, bring a bit of action. I'm the highlight packages guy."
It's quite a boast from a player who averages just 18 with the bat and 23 with the ball in his Twenty20 career.
However, Carter's runs have been made very quickly, including 44 sixes and 93 fours, and he can either bat in the middle order or be used as a pinch-hitter in search of early boundaries. Meanwhile, Murali Kartik admits his competitive streak is so strong he can't even bear to lose a family board game.
Kartik's captain, Shaun Udal, has suggested Middlesex's first Stanford game with England on Sunday is little more than a warm-up for their $180,000 clash with Trinidad & Tobago 24 hours later.
However, for left-arm spinner Kartik, there is no such thing as a dress rehearsal.
He said: "For me, even when I'm playing scrabble with my wife I hate to lose.
"If I'm bowling to a kid and he hits me for a few runs, I start doing things so that he won't be able to hit me anymore.
"That's my spirit, and I think everybody has a bit of that.
"Shaun probably meant the other two games didn't worry him too much because the Trinidad game has all the money riding on it. But I'm sure the boys are itching to have a go at England."
