Breaking Bond

Shane Bond’s book Looking Back is out and the ex Kiwi pacer has taken his chance to explain a lot of things and better express some of his concerns (again) during his start-stop career in it.

When I read the headline on Cricinfo, I thought here he goes, whining again about being a victim of politics and probably even being scared silly by bomb-blasts in Bangalore while putting up in Kolkata but then I remembered how tough it was for him to even turn up to play the game he loved. A lot of things broke over Shane Bond’s career. It was his back most of the time, sometimes it was an ankle here, a shin bone there. But the guy kept coming back. Despite mending jobs which seemed straight out of gore film sequences, like a Frankenstein he came back to play with nuts and screws and what not in his body, keeping it all together.

Bond was one of the handful active international cricketers to join the ICL while the rest waited for developments before joining the gold rush. He clarifies that he joined the ICL after getting an ‘iron-clad assurance’ from the NZC that he could play both international cricket and ICL T20; that nothing in his contract prevented him from doing so. What else did he expect the NZC to tell him when he was such an important player for them? The fact that the board got away as long as long as he paid dearly is another thing that angered him. Moreover, how can you trust a board to defend its players and its actions when it can’t say no to a player with the availability record of Bond? He does not mention what he would have done had the board said no. That would’ve set the record straight.

The shit he found himself in after that, including accusations he did not want to play for the country pained Bond. He steered clear of taking any legal action because ‘there were talks’ that indicated NZC and his teammates would suffer. That part is quite believable I must admit and I hope the book throws a lot more light on these talks instead of just hinting at something vague. He maintains though that he does not regret playing in the ICL. It did give him more than the financial security he needed during his 18 months outside the NZ national team, which incidentally would have been akin to the period of a lengthy recovery gone bad for him.

He also says that despite being a top Black Cap, he hadn’t played enough to sustain him for long after his career ended. Well, good on you Shane, hope your book sales are great!

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