Shane Bond’s BLACKCAPS team mates paid tribute to the 34-year old strike bowler who recently retired from all cricket.
When Bond finished the ICC World Twenty20 he brought down the curtain on his eight year career as a key member of the team.
Daniel Vettori said Bond’s aggressive new ball bowling and commitment would leave a significant gap in the BLACKCAPS attack.
“He is something that New Zealand cricket hasn’t seen a lot of, a consistent fast bowler who can terrorise teams and win games. Apart from Richard Hadlee, there has been few like him,” Vettori said.
“You always know that an opposition is weary of what he can produce and we always saw that when he took the ball, teams are slightly more nervous. They knew how destructive he could be and nine times out of ten he performed that role.”
Vettori was hoping that Bond would reconsider but couldn’t talk the strike bowler out of his decision.
“We had a couple of conversations about it. Obviously I tried to talk him out of it, I would have liked him to have a bit of a break after this and then reassess where he is at,” said Vettori. “Shane is a pretty strong individual and he understands what he wants and he knows his body and his frame of mind and he thought the time was right. He has got a young family and it will all sort itself out well for him, he has been a great servant for New Zealand cricket.”
Team mate Ross Taylor was surprised by the decision saying, “I think a lot of the boys were shocked.
“He is a world class bowler and we don’t have a lot of those in New Zealand. It’s going to be some big shoes to fill and obviously disappointing for the team but we wish Bond all the best as well,” Taylor concluded.
After making his Test debut for the BLACKCAPS against Australia in 2001 Bond has gone on to play 18 Tests, 82 One-Day Internationals and 20 International Twenty20’s.
Reflecting on his career, Bond said he was very honoured to have represented his country and proud of what he has achieved.
`Playing with pride for the BLACKCAPS over the years has meant so much to me. I have experienced huge emotional feelings when I have pulled on the silver fern. I am going to miss a lot of this but I know now is the time to bow out. I am very keen at some stage to put something back into the game in New Zealand,” Bond said
Tests
Played: 18
Wickets: 87
Bowling Average: 22.09
Strike Rate: 38.7
BBI: 6/51 v Zimbabwe Bulawayo, 2005
BBM: 10/99
ODIs
Played: 82
Wickets: 147
Bowling Average: 20.88
Econ rate: 4.28
Strike Rate: 29.2
BB: 6/19 v India Bulawayo, 2005
Twenty20 Internationals
Played: 20
Wickets: 25
Bowling Average: 21.72
Econ rate: 7.00
Strike Rate: 18.6
BB: 3/18 v Sri Lanka Colombo, 2009
