KEY POINTS:
SYDNEY - Shane Bond is likely to find out within the next 48 hours whether he has a future in cricket.
The New Zealand fast bowler was forced out of Tuesday's one-dayer against England with a back complaint that - if diagnosed as another stress fracture - will almost certainly end his career.
Bond, who walked disconsolately from the field after his second three-over spell at Hobart's Bellerive Oval, will be assessed in Sydney today by a sports physician, and will probably have an MRI scan soon after.
The results of that will determine whether he stays with the squad for the rest of the tri-series, or returns home for treatment.
Coach John Bracewell would not be drawn on the future of his pace star yesterday, but said the best plan was to find the exact cause of the discomfort.
"We should know in 48 hours," said Bracewell. "He's still a bit stiff and sore today after yesterday.
"We don't know whether it's muscular or otherwise - we just have to hang on until we get a definitive diagnosis."
Bond, who probably knows more about the state of his back than anyone else, looked downcast as he travelled to Sydney yesterday.
The 31-year-old missed the entire 2004-05 season after having two vertebrae fused together and strengthened with titanium wire and bone splints grafted from his hip.
If he is forced to return home, it will be the fourth time New Zealand have lost their bowling spearhead during a tour. The others were the 2003 series in Sri Lanka, the 2004 tour of England, and last year's tour of South Africa.
"He doesn't know what's wrong and he wants to know," Bracewell said.
"That's why we're keen to get it checked out, so there's no point in second-guessing.
"I'm always concerned when one of my players get injured. He's a key performer for us and he has a history [of back injury], so it's always a worry, just as it is when anyone in the squad is injured."
But Bracewell isn't short of back-up options if the worst comes to the worst.
He has already named several possible replacements for Bond in his World Cup squad of 30.
Of those, injured international Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien - who was brought in as cover during the Sri Lanka series - and test specialist Chris Martin would appear the most likely candidates to fill the gap if required.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand coach yesterday admitted he had few ideas about why his side's batting was proving so flimsy.
But he believed there were various reasons, rather than one factor.
"I can't quite put my finger on it," he said. "Form is a fickle thing and to suggest everyone's lacking confidence is a bit simplistic.
"Each guy will have a different issue. Some of them have technical issues, some may be lacking confidence but we can't bracket them all together.
"It just so happens that a lot of them are out of form at the same time."
In their 10 one-day internationals since the Champions Trophy tournament in October, New Zealand have scored fewer than 200 in five games, and have only twice scored more than 250 - against Pakistan at Chandigarh, and against Sri Lanka at Napier.
Bracewell said he was trying everything to ensure that his batsmen struck some decent form, and was confident they'd come out of the slump.
"I've been telling them to relax, to go out there and play their own game, try to rotate the strike - all the usual stuff a coach would say."
* Lancashire and Auckland batsman Mal Loye has been summoned to Australia as cover for injured England cricket captain Michael Vaughan.
Vaughan was ruled out of tomorrow's match against Australia because of a hamstring tear and is unlikely to play in England's next match against New Zealand in Adelaide on Tuesday.
