Bond - Shane Bond, New Zealand's special agent by AFP

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Player:	SE Bond
Event:	ICC World Cup 2006/07

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DateLine: 1st March 2007

 

When Shane Bond starts his run up he instils an air of confidence in the New Zealand cricket team -- the bullet-proof feeling that can only be ignited by a world class player.

 

For Bond gives New Zealand something all too seldom found in a country with a small talent pool -- he is a genuinely fast and accurate bowler. He is world class.

 

The policeman turned cricketer has a list of accomplishments to justify his change of career to furnish a reputation as one of the best strike bowlers in the world.

 

Perhaps the most impressive is how New Zealand performs with and without his firepower.

 

When Bond plays, the average opposition opening partnership in a one-day internationalis 28.42, but when he is not there the opposition's opening average balloons to 41.97

 

And all too often he is not there with his career restricted by a series of crippling leg and back injuries.

 

The frustration tells.

 

"I want to play every game if I can, and hopefully I can get myself ready to do that," he said in the countdown to the World Cup.

 

"It (the pace) is still there," he said. "I don't think I've lost any pace from what I had. As I play more I'll get stronger and be able to maintain it."

 

Since his international debut five years ago, Bond has only been available for 59 ODIs -- missing more matches than he has played -- and taken 112 wickets at 19.66. His strike rate is under one every 27 balls.

 

He was the second fastest bowler in the world to reach 100 ODI wickets, achieving the feat in 54 matches, one more than Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq.

 

Australia have always been a welcome foe for Bond, who ranks seventh in the International Cricket Council's top 10 ODI bowlers.

 

Against the reigning world champions he has taken 34 wickets at 13.88.

 

"I know where I can bowl to these guys to get them out."

 

He started his career against Australia, and posted a New Zealand best six for 22 against them in the 2003 World Cup.

 

Against Australia in the recent tri-series Bond claimed his first hat-trick and only the second by a New Zealander.

 

Although his back soreness resurfaced during that series, he overcame it and fine-tuned for the World Cup with 5 for 23 against Australia in the opening game of the subsequent Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series.

 

Unlike many fast bowlers who maintain impressive statistics by cleaning up the tail, Bond's value to New Zealand is underscored by his statistics which show 75 percent of his wickets are top-order batsmen.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)