Shane Bond's career in photosKEY POINTS:
As he departs the national scene, New Zealand's injury-plagued fast bowler Shane Bond - the brightest star of his Black Caps generation - says he is uncomfortable with being remembered as one of New Zealand's "greats".
"I would definitely go down as a player who got the best out of myself," says the ex-Christchurch policeman who discovered a talent for speed and unstinting accuracy late in life. "And that's the one thing, I suppose, as a player you hope for when you finish. By doing that I have got the record I have, and I'm proud of the record I have got. It's a shame that it can't go any further."
Bond signs off from officially sanctioned cricket with 79 test wickets, taken at an efficient 22.39. He also bagged 125 one-day wickets at a parsimonious 19.32.
Bond and New Zealand Cricket officially parted ways yesterday, with the Canterbury speedster set to play in the lucrative, unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL). New Zealand Cricket, under pressure from the International Cricket Council, felt it had no choice but to ask Bond to terminate his contract. When Bond signed with the ICL both he and New Zealand Cricket understood it would not affect his ability to play for his country.
Bond says calling time on his international career is disappointing, but there are no hard feelings. "I think everyone has acted with best intentions and then we have found ourselves between a rock and hard place really.
"It's probably not a way I expected to finish. It would always be nice to go out and walk off the field for the last time. But ... if I'm never to play again [for New Zealand] it's been a great run."
He jokes it was probably symbolic of his injury-plagued career that he never got the ideal swansong. Bond says he had to be realistic given his age and the toll that injury has taken on his body. This made the ICL's Twenty20 programme ideal for him.
"The winter that has just gone I got the opportunity to go and play county cricket and had a really good offer on the table. But I turned that down because I wanted to go to South Africa [with the Black Caps] and be in the best shape I could be to go over there."
"Later on in the year I got another offer [from the ICL] - at that stage I was able to do both. So on one hand I could play for New Zealand and on the other hand secure the future of my family, which was a dream result for me."
Bond says he cannot divulge the value of his reportedly multi-million dollar contract with the ICL.
"I have made some financial sacrifices to try to play my best for New Zealand. I think now is the time, even though I miss out on some of my goals I wanted to achieve for New Zealand, the benefits for my family are going to be there."
So for now, in the weeks before he flies out, Bond is fit and enjoying playing for his Canterbury provincial side.
With five of the six batsmen who Bond has rated the highest during his career finishing a series across the Tasman last night (Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid - the odd man out being Brian Lara) Bond backs his mates in the Black Caps to perform against the English tourists, albeit without his pace.
"They have still played enough cricket without me that they are still a competitive bowling unit. Chris Martin is a top-class bowler, Dan [Vettori] is obviously world class, and we've got some guys like Kyle Mills whose game has really stepped up. If our boys bowl as well as what they can in our conditions, there's no reason why we can't win - they have done it in the past without me."
Despite an unfortunate run of injuries, Bond's career has been one of notable highlights. He rates making semifinals in two World Cups, winning a test series in the West Indies in 2002 and taking a one-day hat-trick against Australia in 2006-07 as his personal bests.
With those achievements behind him, he heads off to India for the ICL in April, leaving behind wife Tracey, and daughters Katie, 3, and Hayley, 2.
Bond is confident his body can last the three years of his contract with the ICL. "I spoke to Chris Cairns about it when he got back and he felt like he could still be playing, and could play comfortably for a few more years.
"I still think I can play really competitive cricket, I still feel good and can still bowl quick."
Motivation in a lesser form of the game won't be a problem. "I'm a really competitive guy and I expect high things of myself," he said.
Bond doesn't know what will become of cricket with the growing divide between competitions sanctioned or unsanctioned by the world body.
"Really I think everybody is unsure about what is going to happen. I suppose what everyone can see is there's a huge amount of money in cricket, so from a player's point of view it's an exciting time to be involved in the game. But what you do hope is that we don't have a complete split, that they can find a balance that keeps everyone happy."
