Bond's Test retirement leaves many what-ifs

Kiwi fast bowler Shane Bond has finally ended one of cricket's most frustrating Test careers, accepting he is no longer physically able to stand the demands of the five-day game.

Kiwi fast bowler Shane Bond has finally ended one of cricket's most frustrating Test careers, accepting he is no longer physically able to stand the demands of the five-day game.

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Bond played only 18 Tests for New Zealand in a seven-year career which began when he quit his former job as a police officer.

His 87 wickets at an impressive average of 22.09, taken at a rate of almost five wickets per Test and with five five-wicket bags, suggest that without the intervention of injury he may have been one of cricket's finest fast bowlers.

Because his career was so affected by injury, and by a spell in the rebel Indian Cricket League which resulted in his temporary exile from the international game, Bond's record will always be subject to tantalising "what-ifs".

His last Test, against Pakistan at Dunedin late last month, was also his first in two years because of injuries and his ICL involvement.

It was minutely indicative of his career: he took eight wickets including five for 107 in Pakistan's first innings, suffered an abdominal strain and was unable to play the remaining matches of the series.

On Wednesday, Bond confirmed a decision he had largely made weeks before when he said the physical demands of Test cricket were now beyond him.