Cricket: Bond on the comeback trail

The glamour rating was zero but the satisfaction was enormous for Shane Bond yesterday as he completed his first game in eight months, getting through 10 overs with his back injury not bothering him a jot.

Playing for High School Old Boys at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch, the 29-year-old former Black Cap was clearly tense until he thundered his opening delivery into the wicketkeeper's gloves without the batsman so much as catching a glimpse.

With his nerves settled, he fell into a decent rhythm, bowling with accuracy and no little bite to finish with one wicket for 13 runs off 10 overs.

He declared himself pretty chuffed with his day at the office, but most importantly his back held up with no pain or stiffness kicking in.

"The things I have been working on I did reasonably well I think. It's always a little bit harder on softish outfields. When you go out there, your timing is off a little bit. In terms of my first bowling performance I was pretty happy. I was pretty excited out there and it is nice to get this first match out of the way.

"I'm not worried about my back. I suppose there is a little bit of doubt in your mind but it only takes a couple of balls to get into it and you think 'there is nothing wrong with me'. I just went for it today and it was good."

His figures would have been even more impressive if he hadn't bowled eight no-balls, a problem he attributed to rustiness rather than any direct consequence of changing his action during his rehabilitation programme. His plan over the next month is to gradually work his way back to full speed. He reckoned he was bowling at about 80 per cent for most of yesterday's match against Canterbury Country, which Old Boys won after rain stopped play.

That would have to be encouraging news for the Black Caps selectors as, even at 80 per cent, Bond appeared to be getting some zip off the wicket.

But thoughts of international cricket are distant. In front of about 20 people yesterday, in constant drizzle, Bond was far from the test arena.

"I'm not going to bowl like a champion at 100 miles an hour. Week by week it'll get better. It could be two weeks, it could be four weeks, but it is going to fall into place for me.

"I'm not thinking about the Black Caps. The next step for me is representative cricket. It depends on how the schedule works out and how I go during the next few weeks. At this stage I'm going week by week in club cricket.

"If I've thought anything about Australia it's the one-dayers. Probably not the tests. The strain on me to play tests is too much. My goal is to get to the end of the summer and if I've played a couple of four-day games for Canterbury and feel fit by the end of March I will be really pleased."

Bond has gone through a rigorous programme to get to yesterday's point, working exhaustively with Ashley Ross and Dayle Hadlee at the high performance centre at Lincoln, embedding subtle changes into his action.

Bond's problems are believed to be the result of rotation in his shoulders and hips not working in sync with each other.

Away from cricket he's been working with boxing trainer Kevin Barry Snr to be the fittest he's ever been.

Up until yesterday, Bond had been playing for his club team as a batsman only, scoring a rapid century a month ago.

Bond will carry two screws and some titanium wire wrapped around his vulnerable vetebrae for the rest of his life. It is a permanent legacy of his need to bowl fast; as fast as any New Zealand bowler who has come before him.

It is why, despite having played only 10 tests and 27 ODIs, Bond is seen as such a vital component of New Zealand's future plans.

The man himself knows this is his last shot, but when speaking to the Herald on Sunday, he was comfortable with the prospect of it not working: "My surgeon told me I won't be the bionic man now," Bond said. "If it doesn't work out then I can live with that."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY