Hampshire confident of beating Bond ban

Hampshire may have found a way round the ECB's refusal to allow them to register Shane Bond for the coming season.

As things stand, Bond needs a No Objection Certificate from New Zealand Cricket, his home board, before he can be registered. But because he signed for the unauthorised Indian Cricket League, he was banned by NZC and, as a result, it declined to give him an NOC because he was no longer considered to be its responsibility.

That appeared to leave him in limbo, but the Southern Echo has reported that Hampshire officials have been privately negotiating with NZC and, according to Paul Terry, the county's coach, are close to finalising an agreement that would allow him to play.

"[It] is looking good," Terry told the newspaper. "He arrives next week so hopefully we will not have to send him straight back. We are pretty sure that everything is close and the registration and all those types of things will be fine."

Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, confirmed the position to the BBC. "We're quite hopeful Shane will start the season for us. We've got a form of words now from NZC which we think will fulfil the expectations of the ECB for registration."