Cricket: The world is not enough for Bond

Shane Bond

Shane Bond's international resurrection continued at lightning pace yesterday as he blitzed India off the park at Bulawayo.

Bond, famed for his 145kph-plus deliveries, is now, temporarily at least, the holder of the best average in one-day international history for bowlers taking 50 wickets or more.

Setting a New Zealand record with his 6-19 haul, Bond ensured the Black Caps' meagre 215 would be successfully defended.

India managed just 164.

"Today was awesome," he said. And no one would argue as Bond made one of the stronger batting line-ups in the world - albeit without Sachin Tendulkar - look inadequate with pace and vicious late inswing. Sourav Ganguly's side plunged to 19 for four in the sixth over, and 44 for eight in the 14th.

They made it back to respectability only thanks to a gutsy ninth-wicket stand of 118 between Jyoti Yadav and Irfan Pathan.

"With the ball we were led by one person, Shane Bond," captain Stephen Fleming said. "He's done it for us before and he gives us belief.

"Whatever belief we didn't have going on to the field with a minimum score, he certainly gave us in those first five overs.

"Without him we would have been 50 or 60 runs too short - he bowled one of his great spells."

There was nothing he couldn't do. Even a sullen Ganguly acknowledged the threat Bond posed.

"He won the game for them," Ganguly said. "He's their main bowler and we have to find a way not to give him wickets."

Bond himself preferred to reflect the glory. "It's nice to have those sort of figures, especially when the team wins," he said.

"Personal milestones are nice but it's good to be able to contribute to a team performance."

The Black Caps didn't have matters all their own way. They lurched to 36 for five in the face of quality swing bowling by the left-arm new-ball pair of Pathan and Ashish Nehra - until Jacob Oram and Craig McMillan put the New Zealanders back on track with a stand of 91.

"The nature of our side is that we're going to get a partnership somewhere," Fleming said. "We just need to get the balance right. Today we were too aggressive.

"It wasn't a good batting display and there was ill-discipline. But it was good enough."

New Zealand later struggled to break through after snapping up eight wickets for next to nothing.

"Perhaps we sat back too much after that and it was nearly wrestled away, but we got there in the end," Fleming said. "I'd have liked to have won the game earlier. I thought Daniel Vettori would play a part by taking the pace off the ball, as Shane has a bad toe - I wanted to give him more time to get some juice back in the tank.

"They played well and held us up, and it got quite tense. But Shane had three overs left and it was great. He's one of the world's quickest and one of the world's best bowlers."

Fleming is looking forward to Wednesday, when he will unleash Bond on Zimbabwe in Harare. "There's a bit more bounce and I wouldn't want to face Shane with the new ball," he said. India take on Zimbabwe in Harare tomorrow.

- NZPA