KEY POINTS:
Perhaps the most significant advance in the Black Caps' progress to the World Cup semifinals - even after the loss to Sri Lanka - is the almost complete metamorphosis of Shane Bond.
It was only a few months ago that mention of the speedster's name would bring sharp intakes of breath; shakes of the head; eyebrows raised and eyes rolled.
Problem was, they said around the water coolers and bars across the land, that he was quick, damned quick, but maybe not quite 100 per cent in the old melon. Cricket fans up and down the nation would sigh whenever another story - and there were plenty of them - surfaced saying that Bond had suffered yet another injury.
It got so bad that radio talkback and others started exploring whether Bond was neurotic; his ailments psychosomatic; or whether his injuries had been so bad and so commonplace that he pulled up whenever he thought he was about to be injured. He'd be laid up, critics said, if a butterfly kicked him.
Stories of Bond - who has sometimes not functioned well in extreme heat - being forced to retire in hot places only added to the impression of a man made gun shy by his various afflictions.
How times have changed. The Bond of the West Indies has won accolades as one of the best bowlers in the World Cup.
Heat? Don't give me heat. The heat is on the batsmen who have faced the new Bond at this tournament - a remodelled bowler who has worked smoothly through such a transition that he pretty much pulled it off before anyone noticed.
Gone is the Bond who would hurtle in and try to bowl at breakneck speed. The 150km/h bowler has come down in pace to about 130-140km/h with an occasional zinger thrown in. He has developed a telling slower ball and has controlled his accuracy and his movement of the ball in a way not previously seen - while maintaining his bounce.
The result? Wickets and economy - an ideal mix for a one-day tournament like the World Cup. Perhaps even more significant is the way this metamorphosis has been managed.
Years ago when New Zealand's most successful cricketer, Richard Hadlee, was entering the final phases of his career, "Paddles" decided to lose his long run-up and operate off a smaller one.
This open and honest declaration drew howls of protest and derision. Hadlee would lose his mojo, the fans cried. The familiar stutter-step, rhythmic run-up and lightning delivery were integral to his success as one of the world's most feared strike bowlers.
Tone it down to a trundler's run-up and Hadlee would become just another medium-pacer, they hollered. Hadlee himself got downright grumpy with all this and only quelled matters when he showed that control and movement of the ball got just as many (if not more) wickets than searing pace.
That was particularly so if a bowler was liable to bust a valve and end a career if he kept trying to break the sound barrier.
In the end, Hadlee was feted as one of the great bowlers - off a long or short run-up - but only after this long-running public debate. Whenever Hadlee didn't perform quite so well, there was always some nark ready to pop up and say it was all down to the short run-up.
Bond has avoided all this. It's been well-documented that he and Dayle Hadlee, elder brother of Richard and a man whose own international career was cut short by back injuries, have remodelled Bond's action and toughened him up with a testing training programme.
They have also quietly and successfully replaced Bond's modus operandi (Mk I - knock his block off; Mk II - think him out) and the World Cup has been a stunning platform for the new Bond. They haven't advertised it; just done it.
The great thing is it also seems to have lodged in Bond's head that he doesn't need to be a super-hero.
He's talked about shedding the "ego" of a fast bowler. He hasn't shortened his run but he's left the thunderbolts behind and concentrated on bolting the door on batsmen.
"I've tried to use the crease, change my length and pace, and use the slower ball and it's all starting to come together at this tournament. I think I'm a lot better than I used to be," he said.
Everybody does. Bond, in interviews, has stopped short of saying he will never bowl fast again.
But if the new Bond can lengthen his career and keep knocking batsmen over - in tests and one-dayers - New Zealand cricket won't argue.
