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.