Cricket: Mills injury opens door for Bond

Kyle Mills is out of cricket for the next four months. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The Black Caps have suffered a major injury setback ahead of their home international season.

Fast bowler Kyle Mills has been ruled out of action for a minimum of four months due to shoulder and knee problems. He will have surgery in the coming weeks.

That opens the door for fellow bowler Shane Bond, who has stepped straight off an international flight into four day domestic cricket. He is turning out for Canterbury in their Plunket Shield match against Otago starting in Rangiora today.

Bond is hoping the match springboards him quickly in to higher honours. He says wants to play in the first test against Pakistan, but in order to get picked he needs to show the selectors he is capable of playing four day cricket again.

The Black Caps first test against Pakistan starts next week in Dunedin.

The Pakistan cricket team has arrived in the country for the three test series and will play a New Zealand selection side in Queenstown tomorrow.

Controversial fast bowler Mohammed Asif is back in the side and coach Intikhab Alam is keen to see him perform on some seaming pitches. Alam says he has seen very few players in his time with as much talent as Asif and he is pleased to see him back in the team.

Asif tested positive for a banned substance in July last year, and was subsequently suspended from all cricket for a year. His suspension ended in September.

One man not in the Pakistan squad is Younis Khan, whose absence from the touring party has sparked some controversy back home. However, Alam insists the Pakistan skipper was not forced out. He says Khan was not dropped or sacked as it was his own decision to drop out of the team and go away from the game for a while.

The off field issues aside, Alam says his players will need to knuckle down in anticipation of some difficult pitches in New Zealand. He says they are coming from warm conditions and a diet of limited overs cricket, so need to settle and prepare well.

- NEWSTALK ZB