KEY POINTS:
Shane Bond might be the first to have his international career ended by his decision to sign with the Indian Cricket League (ICL), but he won't be the last. He could, in fact, be the tip of the iceberg.
The Canterbury fast bowler had his contract with New Zealand Cricket terminated by "mutual consent" last week after failing to negotiate a way to play for the national side while contracted to the "rebel" ICL.
"Even though I'm gone now, this is going to be an issue that keeps affecting the game here - whether it's domestic or international players, or fringe international players who are looking at other opportunities. It will be interesting to see how it pans out," Bond told the Herald on Sunday.
Interesting is one way to put it, downright scary is another. Bond was handed the opportunity to secure his financial security and took it. Five others - Stephen Fleming, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum and Scott Styris - will receive nice pay cheques from the Indian Premier League.
What happens to the Chris Martins, Kyle Mills and James Franklins when the ICL comes calling? Already it is widely assumed that the criminally undervalued Andre Adams will be turning out for the ICL by the time the next tournament rolls around.
That's an issue Bond will watch with interest, but at a distance, now that his wish to play for both New Zealand - and an as yet undecided ICL franchise - has been denied. Bond has sat back and listened to his commitment and loyalty being maligned.
From a distance, it looked like the NZC was going to extraordinary lengths to make it look like they were going to extraordinary lengths to keep him, all the while having their tummy tickled by Indian Cricket and making none-too-subtle inferences that perhaps Bond's desire to play for New Zealand wasn't huge.
"It's been disappointing that everything has been clouded because I'm a very black-and-white sort of person," Bond said. "With the various things being written and said in the media, it almost looks like it's been clouded to make it reflect poorly on me. I wanted to do everything properly, to get a release, to let people know what was happening so we could move forward. Unfortunately, due to circumstances, I wasn't able to do that.
"But some people are always going to think you're a traitor, and I can live with that."
When pressed, Bond admitted he had been disappointed by a radio interview with NZC CEO Justin Vaughan who said there wasn't much he could do once Bond had decided he didn't want to play for New Zealand.
"I wasn't real happy with that," Bond said. "I wanted to play, and NZC knew I wanted to retire from tests to prolong my international career and agreed that it was a great move.
"But look, I appreciate that NZC were in a difficult situation and were getting pressured from all sides. I sympathise fully with them in that regard."
Bond has copped enough grief over the years because of his lengthy injury report to get used to the slings and arrows. The people it affects the most are those closest to him.
"It's tough on my mum; she's found it harder than I have. Trace [wife Tracey] finds it tough. That's been the hardest thing about staying quiet.
"But I always had confidence that once the process was finished and I had a chance to actually say what happened that people would understand my position."
Bond said nobody has had the front to abuse him to his face yet, though he has had a few snide comments regarding curries while he's been playing.
"Most of the comments I have had publicly have been people congratulating me for looking after my family."
Bond remains utterly unrepentant about this. He has two young daughters, Katie and Hayley, and knows the value of a dollar.
His was not a Fendalton or Merivale upbringing. He's lived nearly his entire life with a 10km radius in Christchurch's northern suburbs, went to unfashionable Papanui High and not much more than 10 years ago figured a career as a professional sportsman was so unlikely he joined the police.
As his time on the force and his gruelling comebacks from injuries would indicate, he's not afraid of hard work, but even the most diligent of grafters wouldn't throw away a winning lottery ticket.
"I find it strange that in any other job people accept that you try to improve your circumstances and get in a better position to provide for your family, but it's almost like you're not supposed to do that in sport. I don't understand that; maybe it's because professional sport is so new in this country. "
And a job that, even with the best intentions, was always going to have a limited timeframe - given Bond's myriad injury problems, the most notable being the impressive collection of titanium and surgical wire that has taken up permanent residency in his lower back.
"There's a right way and a wrong way of going about improving your circumstances and I think I went about it the right way, so I don't understand why people would be calling me disloyal."
Still, in a quiet moment, Bond concedes he might harbour a few regrets that he didn't get to sign off in the way he wanted.
Reality started to bite when he went to a function at the Christchurch Casino where Stephen Fleming, Brendon McCullum and England's Graeme Swann and Ryan Sidebottom spoke about the upcoming series.
It was Tracey who expressed her sadness that he would no longer be part of it.
"I'm OK about it," Bond said. "I've had a few weeks to let it sink in and I've gone through all the emotions, but it will be a bit weird when they start playing."
The decision to retire from test cricket was tough enough but one he felt was a no-brainer.
"I got off the plane from South Africa and thought it was just going to be the usual rehabilitation then back into it. I had a scan and found out I was going to be out for two months and got really down in the dumps.
"I started thinking about it and came to the realisation I didn't want to go through that feeling of coming home from a tour early again. I looked at last year where I got through the whole year and went to the World Cup and everything went brilliantly.
"The whole year was basically one-dayers, so I started looking back to when I had problems and it was almost always in test cricket."
It was still a wrench. Bond sits on 79 test wickets and felt 100 would give his career further validation. He never got to play that test at Lord's he'd always dreamed about and, in fact, never played a test against England.
One question remains, and one that to many armchair fans has never been properly answered. Why, when faced with the prospect of losing his international career and NZC contract, did Bond not take the IPL offer? Was it just the money?
"They [NZC] wanted me to go to the IPL because they were pushing their players that way. But I was really thorough with what I had gone through with the ICL. I had a full contract that I had been through with the lawyers and they were really happy with it. It covered off every eventuality I could think of," Bond said.
"Then I was given the IPL offer, but it was a one-and-a-half page memorandum of understanding that was really vague.
"I spoke to the Players' Association and with the lawyers and they both said 'you can't sign that because you don't know what you're signing'.
"At the time I had to make a decision and it was easy, really. One was thorough and I knew what I was getting myself into and the other one I didn't really know what was going on.
"It was a simple decision in some respects."
Yet one with ramifications few could have imagined.
