Shane Bond

[Sanz]

When Fit, I rate him the best Fast bowler in the World right now. When is he going to be fit again ??

[nibbs]

Hopefully he'll be ready for the tour of England, which starts in May (I think)... But I know he wont be playing against the Yarpies when the arrive in a weeks time or anything like that. I think he might have played some club cricket in recent times, but no first class matches...

[Token]

He was commentating the other day and mentioned working on his fitness, so I guess he hasn't played any club cricket again, as if he had it would have been front page news.

[FRAZ]

Huh . I dont know why people are so against Shoaib Akhtar .I saw a website where It was written that he is an illegal bowler and in the legal list only these three bowlers are top 3
1. Nehra 149+ speed and extremely accurate
2. Zaheer Khan 148+ and best swinger in the world
3. Ajit Agarkar. 147+ and the best nippy action in the world
And that site was also saing Sami is the worst youngster introduced and he will be achuker soon
and that site was claiming Shoaib is not a bowler he is just an other creature which is not a bowler but looks like one.
Waoh what a great comment and actually that site was a very prestigeous web site of that big country . I mean Mongolia . lolololol

[BlackCap_Fan]

Originally posted by FRAZ
Huh . I dont know why people are so against Shoaib Akhtar .I saw a website where It was written that he is an illegal bowler and in the legal list only these three bowlers are top 3
1. Nehra 149+ speed and extremely accurate
2. Zaheer Khan 148+ and best swinger in the world
3. Ajit Agarkar. 147+ and the best nippy action in the world
And that site was also saing Sami is the worst youngster introduced and he will be achuker soon
and that site was claiming Shoaib is not a bowler he is just an other creature which is not a bowler but looks like one.
Waoh what a great comment and actually that site was a very prestigeous web site of that big country . I mean Mongolia . lolololol

lol...hmm can you guess what country the guy that made the site is from?

Bond,Tuffey and oram are all better than Nehra.Mills probably too.

[Tim]

I think I have seen that list of Indian bowlers before...probably an Indian forum site.

[anzac]

not wanting to put the mockers on anything but from memory isn't Dizzy the only 'quick' to have made a 'successful' career after major injury in recent times???? and to do so he is now off a shorter run, different action & a reduction in pace.......

Gough didn't last out his comeback series.....

Caddick is still yet to make his return....

Cairns has yet to find any form......(not that he was ever a 'quick')..

Allott, Nash & O'Connor all failed......

Bond may not be the same bowler again..........

[BlackCap_Fan]

Originally posted by anzac
not wanting to put the mockers on anything but from memory isn't Dizzy the only 'quick' to have made a 'successful' career after major injury in recent times???? and to do so he is now off a shorter run, different action & a reduction in pace.......

Gough didn't last out his comeback series.....

Caddick is still yet to make his return....

Cairns has yet to find any form......(not that he was ever a 'quick')..

Allott, Nash & O'Connor all failed......

Bond may not be the same bowler again..........

Cairns has found some good batting form,and hes bowling o.k but nothing special.

Give him time,hes been out for 2 years.

Well,with bond,we can only pray.It would be nice to see some aussie stumps flying from a 154 kph in-swingin' yorker.

[Mingster]

Originally posted by FRAZ
Huh . I dont know why people are so against Shoaib Akhtar .I saw a website where It was written that he is an illegal bowler and in the legal list only these three bowlers are top 3
1. Nehra 149+ speed and extremely accurate
2. Zaheer Khan 148+ and best swinger in the world
3. Ajit Agarkar. 147+ and the best nippy action in the world
And that site was also saing Sami is the worst youngster introduced and he will be achuker soon
and that site was claiming Shoaib is not a bowler he is just an other creature which is not a bowler but looks like one.
Waoh what a great comment and actually that site was a very prestigeous web site of that big country . I mean Mongolia . lolololol

OK Nehra and Agarkar probably have never bowled above 147+ before. They are only medium-fast.

Zaheer Khan however, disappointing to see him injured. Him, Irfan, and Balaji there would have been a pretty potent attack.

[Richard]

Originally posted by Sanz
When Fit, I rate him the best Fast bowler in the World right now. When is he going to be fit again ??

Given that I assume you aren't saying he's better than McGrath, Pollock, Gillespie etc. I think you need to consider the fact that there's no significant difference between fast and fast-medium.
Bond has not proven that much in a Test career to date. In 4 serious Test-series, he's had 2 successes and 2 failures and 1 of the successes was in incredibly seam-friendly conditions.
When he gets fit we'll see how good he really is, hopefully.

[anzac]

Originally posted by BlackCap_Fan
Cairns has found some good batting form,and hes bowling o.k but nothing special.

Give him time,hes been out for 2 years.

Cairns batting is showing signs in Shield cricket - nothing else yet at International level (can't be rated after 2 so-so innings v PAK)

so far as his bowling is going he started well in the ODI series but by the time he got to his 4th over he usually got belted - I don't recall him bowling anymore than 6 overs at best ....

he has been out of Test cricket for 2 years, but during that time he has been in & out of the ODI squad thru further injury & has been playing domestic cricket both in NZ & England - so it's not like he's been out altogether & is 'rusty' or anything...........

IMO the ONLY reason Cairns got a start in the Test series is because Bond is out & the NZ attack has no bite - hence a gamble on Cairns' experience etc...........

personally I can think of no other reason for NZ to have 4 frontline bowlers (Tuffey, Oram, Vettori & Butler), plus Cairns as an 'allrounder', and Styris as a 6th option, esp in NZ conditions which are not generally the hardest to bowl on for a seam attack & particularly when the 4 main seam bowlers offer little variation from each other regarding pace etc........

IMO the current line up is 1 batsman too short at least - and I don't suggest that dropping Hart for Papps will redress the balance as you still only have 5 specialist batsmen...........

even the best attacks in the game struggle if they do not have a total to defend - NZ need runs on the board from a consistant batting lineup b4 they need another bloody bowler in the side!!!!

[Choora]

Originally posted by FRAZ
Huh . I dont know why people are so against Shoaib Akhtar .I saw a website where It was written that he is an illegal bowler and in the legal list only these three bowlers are top 3
1. Nehra 149+ speed and extremely accurate
2. Zaheer Khan 148+ and best swinger in the world
3. Ajit Agarkar. 147+ and the best nippy action in the world
And that site was also saing Sami is the worst youngster introduced and he will be achuker soon
and that site was claiming Shoaib is not a bowler he is just an other creature which is not a bowler but looks like one.
Waoh what a great comment and actually that site was a very prestigeous web site of that big country . I mean Mongolia . lolololol

Anyone can come up with a website like that, that doesn't mean anyting.

It looks the work of die hard Indian fan, maybe Amit was behind it

[marc71178]

It does bear a few of his traits, that's for sure!

[thierry henry]

Cairns has yet to find any form......(not that he was ever a 'quick')..

YES HE WAS!
As a teenager he was considered by many to be the best, and possibly the fastest, young paceman in the world. That was why he was brought into the New Zealand team at 19- he was big, raw, and fast. Cairns was supposed to be a genuine fast bowling all-rounder who batted 7 or 8, but of course injury after injury changed all that. Don't forget that as recently as 1999 he was bowling in the 140s in England.

[anzac]

Originally posted by thierry henry
YES HE WAS!
As a teenager he was considered by many to be the best, and possibly the fastest, young paceman in the world. That was why he was brought into the New Zealand team at 19- he was big, raw, and fast. Cairns was supposed to be a genuine fast bowling all-rounder who batted 7 or 8, but of course injury after injury changed all that. Don't forget that as recently as 1999 he was bowling in the 140s in England.

If he was then it must have been for a shortish time very early in his career......

I do remember both him and Nash as being touted as the best new ball / 'quick' prospects since Brendon Bracewell...but I must admit that while I can remember Cairns bowling in the 140 ks, I can not remember him averaging above 145 ks consistantly, let alone bowling above the 150 kph mark......

IMO this does not make him a genuine 'quick', as opposed to having been a good FMED & able to generate some good quicker deliveries......

even b4 the Tour to England his speed was in the mid - higher 130 ks......I don't recall him being a mid 140 k average in the VB series when Wilson partnered him back in the early '90s, & unfortunately 1999 in England was the last time he was fully fit b4 his subsequent injuries on the ZIM & RSA Tours - since then his best that I can recall has been in the 130s...........& he is definately more of a Medium than Fast bowler these days so far as his average speed goes, with the occaisional quicker delivery.....much as Nash did after his injuries.....