Cricket: Canterbury lose crucial weapon for Shell Cup finals

Strike bowler Shane Bond has suffered a painful hamstring injury in club cricket and is out of the Canterbury team for this week's best-of-three Shell Cup finals.

Canterbury, one-day champions in seven of the last nine seasons, play Central Districts at Napier on Wednesday before returning to Christchurch to play on Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday.

Bond broke down in his third over for High School Old Boys against Burnside-West-University on Saturday.

"It's a recurrence of the hamstring problem he had a few weeks ago," said Canterbury coach Garry MacDonald. "It's not good."

Bond was a hero of the all-or-nothing win over Wellington last Thursday night, assisting Chris Harris to give Canterbury a defendable target and then bowling with typical venom. Bond scored 30 from 27 balls and took one for 30 from eight overs.

"Shane had a big influence on the game," MacDonald said. "He batted well, then bowled beautifully at the death."

Convener of selectors Ben Harris confirmed Canterbury would take the other 12 members of their squad to Napier. Medium-fast bowler Stephen Cunis is the obvious replacement for Bond.

MacDonald defended the keenness shown by most of his players to turn out for their clubs between representative commitments.

"You can't make them too precious. Club cricket is just like a good training."

Canterbury: Gary Stead (captain), Brad Doody, Nathan Astle, Aaron Redmond, Craig McMillan, Chris Harris, Marcel McKenzie, Gareth Hopkins, Carl Anderson, Stephen Cunis, Ryan Burson, Chris Martin.

- NZPA