Bond's absence will hurt New Zealand
The New Zealand-Australia series scheduled for February and March next year appeared to have in the ingredients for a riveting contest until Shane Bond and Iain O'Brien announced their retirements, writes Chris Rattue in the New Zealand Herald .
In these quarters, O'Brien and Bond's decisions have been greeted with extreme disappointment, because the players have opted out of a golden opportunity, for them and their team. What was shaping as a terrific contest might now be a dud. That the great and the good around cricket seem so resigned to their departure, and almost supportive, makes it doubly disappointing.
Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo