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ST GEORGE'S, Grenada - Something left a bad taste in Shane Bond's mouth. But his captain soon had to digest the unpalatable realisation that New Zealand's pace bowling alternatives resembled cricket World Cup liabilities as the tournament approached sudden death.
Bond's fragile constitution forced his omission from a New Zealand side thrashed by Australia at the Grenada National Stadium today in a Super 8 that meant little as both teams had already qualified for the semifinals.
That gave Stephen Fleming little to enthuse about as he contemplated a semifinal appointment with Sri Lanka on a Sabina Park wicket that traditionally offers pace and bounce.
Fleming had anticipated his pace attack would be able to trouble a Sri Lankan top order, reliant on Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara. But on the evidence produced during New Zealand's 215-run capitulation by Australia today, his hotel-bound paceman could pose only headaches in Jamaica.
Ricky Ponting's mood brightened considerably after learning Bond had succumbed to a stomach upset. He dropped Michael Mason and Mark Gillespie down the batting order.
Mason, who missed three games with a calf strain and Gillespie, on a tortuous comeback trail from a shoulder problem, were both given an opportunity.
Jacob Oram was already resting a heel injury when Bond called in sick.
However, the pair and left armer James Franklin were pounded mercilessly by Hayden, Ponting, Michael Clarke and Shane Watson as Australia rollicked to an impregnable 348 for six.
New Zealand could not emulate their Chappell-Hadlee Trophy fairytale endings and collapsed to be all out for 133 in the 26th over, their heaviest ODI defeat.
While the inclusion of Bond and Oram may have limited the damage, there was no escaping the vulnerability of New Zealand's pace bowling against an on-song attack.
Mason bowled only three overs for 27 -- his last cost 14; Gillespie was spared the early Hayden onslaught but still conceded 67 off six.
Franklin picked up three wickets -- two of them fortuitously -- but had 74 taken from his eight overs.
The left armer was also guilty of overstepping five times. Gillespie's wonky run up proved more costly when he skittled Michael Hussey with a no-ball before his last six legitimate deliveries produced 24 as Watson (65 not out off 32) ran amok.
Fleming later described Bond's absence as "immense" and his replacements as a "long way off".
"The fact we lost him gave us the opportunity to use a couple of guys that haven't had much cricket. It was a chance to play around with a few different options but with our lack of accuracy, we found we didn't have much firepower at the top," Fleming said.
"Unfortunately there were a lot of no balls (10) and we missed a lot of areas where we wanted to bowl."
Ponting admitted Australia's task had been made easier when Bond, who has taken 34 wickets in 11 ODIs against the world champions, was ruled out.
"We knew they'd have a weakened attack going into the game at the toss and Matty (Hayden) and I spoke about keeping their bowlers under pressure all the time.
"We knew if we kept our partnership going we'd get a lot of bad balls from their attack. That's pretty much the way it worked out.
"Whenever they bowled us something bad, we managed to put it away and set a pretty good platform for the guys coming down the order."
Ponting made an effortless 66 and Hayden 103 off 100 as only Gilchrist (1) and Andrew Symonds (11) skipped the run-fest.
Bond was confined to the team's beach front resort during the match.
"When we left the hotel he was with the doctor. I imagine it'll be a couple of days and he'll be back on deck," Fleming hoped.
- NZPA
