Bond, Shane Bond

Every sport has its fair share of players who are dynamic for a few seasons, then for whatever reason are done.

In American football, amazing running back Ricky Williams retired for a few seasons to go smoke pot. He came back and was able to show flashes, but wasn't really the same.

In basketball, "Pistol" Pete Maravich drank his career away.

Very few athletes miss large amounts of time, and miss parts of their career of their own doing like Shane Bond.

Bond is another bowler I sort of stumbled across in my readings.

If you look at his stats without going in further, he doesn't seem like someone that could catch the eye.

Only played 18 test matches, just 87 wickets. His best test figures are 6/51. Slightly more ODIs, with 82 played but considering Tendulkar has played 453, it’s clear something happened to Bond's career.

The fact that an athlete had injury problems is really no surprise to me. While unfortunate, it's not surprising.

The fact that he left international cricket to join a renegade league is though.

Coming from America, the concept of a 'renegade' league, like the Indian Cricket League, is ridiculous. Sure, there are basketball leagues, other than the NBA, but they wouldn't be banned from the NBA if they played in one. I'm a little unfamiliar with the ICL and am assuming he signed with the league, knowing he'd be banned from cricket if he did. If he did, fair play to him, earn your money. It's just odd to me thinking he would knowingly do this.

It's unfortunate that the sabbatical and assorted injuries had to shorten what was on its way to becoming an amazing career. All you have to do is go watch his 8 wicket haul in one of his last tests against Pakistan. Amazing.

Wish you could still play, man.