A look at the list of top wicket takers for New Zealand in Test Cricket
and you would be surprised to see that three most talented bowlers haven’t
reached to 100 Test Wickets. Shane Bond, Simon Doull and Dion Nash ended up
much less than what they could have
When the list of all-time
New Zealand Test wicket takers is made up, the names of Sir Richard Hadlee,
Daniel Vettori, Tim Southee and Trent Boult
comes at the top then Neil Wagner, Chris Martin and Chris Cairns name is
also added as we go down. Surprisingly
the name of one of the best fast bowler produced by the country “Shane Bond ’’
is not on the list.
When Bond arrived on the
scene in January 1997 he was only 21. After success in domestic cricket, he was given a New Zealand debut against Australia at Hobart in 2001. It was
however, in subsequent triangular series that Bond showed his firepower. At 26, he had pace, accurate line, length, and
excellent temperament, a lethal combination and sign of a great bowler. He
tormented Australia, South Africa, and India in the next year and showed his skills
in the World Cup 2003.
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| Shane Bond - Destined for Greatness but Injuries played spoilsport |
Bond ended up with 17
wickets in 8 games with an average of 17.94 and was on top of his game, when the
stress fracture occurred. Bond returned after 2 years with the same firepower, the
batsmen still feared him, but his body couldn’t sustain for a longer period of
time. While he managed to play 55 ODI after his return, but could only play 8
Tests as his body continued to break again and again.
Bond at last bid adieu to international cricket with 87 wickets in 18 Tests at 22.09 and 147 wickets
in 82 ODIs at just 20.88. He also played 20 T20Is and took 25 wickets at 21.72. He
was once in a once-in-a-generation bowler, someone who could have taken 300 wickets at
least, had he played 70 Tests. A Career that seemed destined for greatness
ended on what could have been a story.
New Zealand in the 90s was a dark
horse trying to defy all odds. In such an era, they had talented but physically
brittle players. Simon Doull was one such bowler, who started with a lot of promise.
Doull impressed everyone as he progressed in his career; his problem, though, like his contemporaries (Dion Nash, Geoff Allot, and Robert Kennedy), was that
he struggled frequently with his fitness. Whenever he looked like leading the pack, he
suffered a serious setback in the form of injuries. But when he was fit, he was a
treat to watch. His spell of 4-33 at Johannesburg in 1994 ensured New
Zealand registered a remarkable victory on South African soil.
On the 1996-97 tour to Pakistan,
he picked 8-85 at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium to ensure New Zealand registered a
historic victory in Pakistan. A few months later, he picked 12 wickets in 2 Tests
against Sri Lanka at home. This was a tough time for New Zealand Cricket as the
team struggled both on and off the field. But as Stephan Fleming took over
in early 1997, the group started to build slowly and steadily with the bowling
attack comprising of Chris Cairns, Dion Nash, Daniel Vettori and Simon Doull .
In 1998, Doull rattled
Indian batsmen on the Boxing Day Test picking 7-65, on what was a demonstration
of high-quality swing bowling. He
finished the series with 12 wickets in 2 Tests.
This was the time when Doull
was also struggling with number of injuries, and the effect was evident as he
continued to miss matches and was less effective in the ones on which he
played. He could only muster 3 wickets in the last 6 Tests he played. Four operations
on his knee and several stress fractures forced him to retire after the 2001-2002
season. He was only 32 then.
Dion Nash could have ended
up as one of the finest all-rounders for New Zealand, he had the talent,
attitude, temperament, and above all, passion for the game, all attributes for greatness. After debuting against Zimbabwe in 1992, Nash was first noticed
worldwide on England tour in 1994. He picked up 11 wickets with high-quality
swing bowling at Lords and only bad light robbed New Zealand of a historic
win. In Mid mid-1990s’, Nash became an
integral part of the pace attack.
Injuries though, were a regular
part of Nash’s career. Frequent recurrence of lower disc issues, knee problems
and other injuries resulted in him missing out on most of the games he played.
While Nash was a fighter by nature but at the end injuries had enough of him, he
played his last Test, 8 days before his 30th Birthday, and retired
from International Cricket only three months later. In his 9 9-year international Career, Nash
played 32 Tests and missed 45 and ultimately ended much short of what he could
have.
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It was not the story of
Bond, Doull or Nash; it was the story of New Zealand cricket between
1995-2010. New Zealand lost too many
bowlers in these 15 years; a number of them could have achieved greatness and some other significant milestones. Above all they could have helped New Zealand
win many more games. Cricinfo, in their 2009 article, rightly pointed out that a
whole generation of Kiwi bowlers was lost.
A look at the states will
tell the whole story
|
No |
Name |
Tests |
Wickets |
Average |
Tests Missed |
Test Career Span |
|
1 |
Shane Bond |
18 |
87 |
22.09 |
47 |
2001-2009 |
|
2 |
Simon Doull |
32 |
98 |
29.30 |
35 |
1992-2000 |
|
3 |
Dion Nash |
32 |
93 |
28.48 |
45 |
1992-2001 |
|
4 |
Geoff Allot |
10 |
19 |
58.47 |
18 |
1996-1999 |
|
5 |
Shayne O Connor |
19 |
53 |
32.52 |
18 |
1997-2001 |
|
6 |
Ian O Brian |
22 |
73 |
33.27 |
17 |
2005-2009 |
|
7 |
Jacob Oram |
33 |
1780 Runs and 60 Wickets |
|
21 |
2002-2009 |
The above table clearly
shows that not only did these players miss a large number of Tests but had
short Test careers ranging from 6-9 Years. However, post 2010, New Zealand
bowlers have considerably improved on this front. Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner have
had longer careers, while Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry seem to have the capability to
have longer careers.
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