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GROS ISLET, St Lucia - Shane Bond wants to match the achievements of his first cricket World Cup experience in South Africa four years ago.
But New Zealand's premier paceman accepts he will have to take a slower, more cunning approach to match his impressive 17-wicket haul in South Africa.
After two practice matches in Barbados, the 31-year-old realises sheer pace is not necessarily the most important factor on the benign Caribbean wickets.
At their best in the 1980s the West Indies inflicted maximum pain with a four-pronged pace attack unleashing an unrelenting assault on body and mind on juicy wickets.
The tournament opener between the West Indies and Pakistan in Jamaica today gave more credence to the belief matches could resemble more of a grind unless one of the minnows is involved.
Like any world class quick Bond also relies on a degree of intimidation -- and an average of 19.66 runs for each of his 112 wickets from 59 caps doesn't hurt.
However, the injury-plagued right armer admitted he would not have the same impact as in 2003 with a game plan designed to simply blast out batsmen, particularly if New Zealand do not bowl first when the pitches are at their liveliest.
Bond, who does not consider himself in the same league as Shoaib Akhtar, Brett Lee and fellow Australian Shaun Tait when the speed gun is activated, believes his success hinges on just occasionally bowling a 150km/h thunderbolt.
"It's nice to have an express bowler in your team but with the size of the grounds and the pitches if you have that pace and you don't get it right you're going to go for runs."
Bond discovered that the hard way last week when his first two overs against Sri Lanka produced 27 runs at the 3Ws ground in Barbados.
Beaujesour Stadium, where New Zealand play England in group C's heavyweight clash on Friday (Saturday NZT), isn't exactly of Melbourne Cricket Ground proportions either so Bond will delve into a bag of tricks that includes various changes of pace -- even a deliberately languid bouncer.
One of his weapons has already been stymied by Caribbean conditions -- deviation in the air is practically nonexistent.
"The ball hasn't swung ....," he said
"We've bowled twice in the afternoon and both (warm-up) pitches have been a little bit sticky.
"There's no real sideways movement -- it's the changes of pace that have come into play."
Fortunately for the Black Caps Bond believes he is well equipped to fox rather than fire opponents out.
"I'm quick enough to hurry guys up and force them to make mistakes but I've got better as I've got older because I've tried to add a few things to my game," he said.
"That's made me a more dangerous bowler -- each year I try and get more wily as the body starts to shut down."
The legacy of a succession of back injuries has forced him to reinvent his game and mercifully, so far at least, the summer has progressed relatively trouble-free.
He prompted a scare during the opening stages of the Commonwealth Bank Tri-Series at Hobart in January when back problems resurfaced and he conceded the fast bowler's malaise is ever-present, though manageable.
"I still don't know what it is that's niggling away but it has settled down and things are almost back to normal," he said.
Bond played eight games in New Zealand's last Cup campaign -- a remarkable achievement considering his medical history -- and was confident of featuring in New Zealand's nine match schedule before potential semifinals late next month.
An elongated playing schedule -- New Zealand has only twice been dealt two games in three days -- and the short flights between the Black Caps' match venues combine to make him optimistic of lasting the distance.
He also confirmed a desire to play on after the World Cup, hardly surprising considering the amount of cricket he has missed since exploding on to the international scene in Australia five years ago.
"I've got a couple of long term goals. This was one so to get here in one piece and bowl pretty well .... I'm stoked.
"The other is to play a test at Lords," he said, eyeing New Zealand's tour next year as compensation for being ruled out of the 2004 trip.
- NZPA
