Cricket: Bond shapes up for first round

Still fighting: Shane Bond works out on the punching bags in Christchurch. Picture / Simon Baker

At 4pm every day, Shane Bond reports to the Belfast Rugby Club headquarters, Christchurch, for an appointment with the pain barrier.

Having already put himself through eight hours worth of cricket-specific training, New Zealand's fastest bowler since Gary Bartlett effectively pummels his body to the limits of its endurance, under the watchful eye of boxing trainer Kevin Barry snr.

Punching, skipping, sprint shuttles, push-ups, sit-ups and chin-ups are the normal fare for Bond over the next couple of hours, as he urges himself towards peak physical fitness.

And there is a method to his madness.

The way Bond sees it, the fitter and stronger he is, the more chance he will have to make a full recovery from back surgery, and once again mark out his run-up for New Zealand.

But just as importantly, the 29-year-old has attempted to mimic the challenges of top-level cricket, scheduling his daily torture session with Barry to correspond with the start of a day's third session.

The man who played his most recent game for his country in May will begin a critical new phase of his rehabilitation in Christchurch today, when he takes the new ball for his High School Old Boys club side against Canterbury Country.

"I try to incorporate Kevin as my last session of the day," Bond says. "I train hard early on with my bowling and weights and running, and trying to simulate the last session by going to see him at 4pm every day.

"That's what cricket's about - being able to guts it out when the going gets tough, and as a fast-bowler, being able to come back into the attack after a hard day's grind."

If there is an air of desperation in Bond's need to be "the fittest I've ever been in my life", it's understanding, given his battle with back injury.

Identified by the talent scouts in his mid-teens, he suffered three stress fractures in his back before he was 18 years old, almost left the game as a 21-year-old, and made three failed comeback attempts after breaking down again in May 2003.

The reconstruction surgery in August was radical but inevitable, involving taking bone chips from his hip, screwing them into the fractured vertebrae, and reinforcing the structure with titanium wire.

The procedure left him immobile for a month and unable to pick up his young daughter Katie, but determined to remain patient and give his body every chance to mend and repair itself at its own pace.

"Every time I've been injured I've tried

something a little different to help, on the theory that if you keep trying the same things, you'll probably get the same result," he said.

"This time I decided that I needed to take my personal fitness to a much higher level. I mean, I trained hard during previous rehabs, but this time I ratcheted things up considerably with Kevin.

"It's important really, because the fitter I am the more chance I have of holding my technique together under pressure, and the better my concentration will be."

And there have been changes. Bond attributes the early back injuries to what analysts call a "mixed action", where the top half of the body is not in correct alignment with the bottom half during delivery.

He said the subsequent counter-rotation was one of the most common causes of back injury for bowlers, and needed to be addressed if he was to make a viable recovery.

"Dayle Hadlee, Ash Ross and myself stripped my action back to the core, studied and analysed it with help from Auckland University's biomechanics unit, and made what we felt were critical adjustments.

"I think my action's a lot more refined now, and I'm happier with the way I'm doing things.

"It's now just a matter of holding that in place while under stress in competition, rather than reverting back to the old habits in the heat of the moment."

Bond conceded that the reforms took some adjusting to, but that he'd been bowling for six or seven weeks and was now feeling relatively comfortable with his action.

The past three or four weeks had seen a lift in the intensity of his net sessions, as he started to bowl between 25 and 35 overs a week at a reasonable clip.

He said key indicators, such as the seam position of the ball in flight, had been encouraging at practice, and that he was expecting to be able to bowl at a brisk pace today without getting carried away.

"I think I'm in the best shape that I've ever been in," was his summary. "I've refined my (bowling) technique down to something I'm very happy with, and I just want to get out there and get into it now.

"I'm probably feeling normal, but it's been so long since I felt normal it's hard to tell."

* THE NAME'S BOND

Tests: 10
Wickets: 43
Ave: 24.30
best: 5/78 v West Indies, Bridgetown, 2002
ODIs: 27
Wickets: 51
Ave: 19
best: 6/23 v Australia, Port Elizabeth, 2003