Bond rules himself out of Australia series

Shane Bond has ruled himself out of New Zealand's series against Australia and feels that his back needs more time to recover completely. Bond, who is currently playing club cricket in Christchurch, was sidelined in May 2003 and a series of stress fractures to his feet and back forced the extended layoff.

"Australia's very unlikely," Bond told The Dominion Post. "I'd never expect to go from club cricket to playing Australia, so I think the chances of me playing them are 0%." Bond had earlier entertained thoughts of returning to the Canterbury one-day side but he said, "The body is as good as gold but I don't think I'm quite ready for Canterbury. I'm having some good days with the ball, but overall I'm still a little bit inconsistent."

Bond wasn't ready to predict when he would return and added: "It is just week by week at the moment and we'll see how things pan out. I'm playing both days this weekend so we'll see how that goes. I didn't think I did anything overly special last weekend, but the important thing is the back feels fine."

New Zealand are scheduled to play a five-match series against Australia, starting in Wellington on February 19.