Bond searches for his golden gun

On a sultry Mumbai afternoon, the cop-turned-fast-bowler Shane Bond hit the sluggish wicket at the suburban ground trying to hunt down a few weapons that had slipped from his grasp during the lengthy recuperation period from a back injury. Rhythm, pace, line, and length. Especially rhythm, the others usually come as free accessories with it. He left the arena a tired man, still in search of them.

Only three balls beat the bat in his first spell that yielded 26 runs in five overs. The first one kicked up from a length to bruise the right hand, the second whizzed past the outside edge after landing on a length, and the third got an edge, but flew to the third-man fence, when the batsman tried to force a short-of-a-length delivery. Though he was more fluent in later spells he didn't look threatening at any stage. But New Zealand would not have expected any miracle from him on this slow pitch and would be satisfied that he had clocked some miles under his belt.

Faces peered eagerly through the fence at the far end as Bond, sporting a black wristband on his left hand, ran in 13 paces before arching back his upper body to release the ball. However, today, it didn't usually land where he wanted. First over was spent in search of both line and length as he threaded on either side of the wicket, sometimes short, sometimes full. However, he ended it with a snorter that hurt the right hand of Rishikesh Parab, the plucky opening bat. Maybe Bond has found his rhythm now and will dismantle the first-class batsmen from Baroda. It was not to be. His next ball was slashed over point by Parab. Hmm... a bouncer or a yorker, now, surely? A length ball followed and Parab took a single off the next.

At the start of the third over Vettori, the captain, moved out the second slip to gully. A gully and a point were now in place. In better times, Bond would have kicked it up from short of a length outside the off stump, got an edge out of the startled batsman and either the gully or point would have come into play. He attempted straightway but to Bond's surprise, it flew off the middle of the bat and sailed over backward point. Parab had reproduced a Virender Sehwag special. There was a buzz around the arena. Now we had a real contest on the cards. Unsurprisingly, a bouncer followed. Parab calmly swayed away. Then another one, banged in short, was punched down on the off side. A fullish one was served up next which was driven powerfully and if not for an agile cover, it would have been a four.

Vettori ran across to hand over the goggles and a pat on the back as Bond trudged back to his fine-leg position to attend to his end-over ritual. Some chilled water would go down the throat, some down the back of his neck and he would then grab a towel to wipe his perspiration away. The heat was truly on.

Early in his next over, Parab edged a short-of-a-length delivery to the thirdman fence to produce a shake of the head from the bowler. The next one flew at the throat of Parab who swayed away quickly. A couple of balls later Parab tried to whip a ball on the legs to the on side but got a leading edge that fell short of mid-off. That ball didn't deserve a wicket but neither was lady luck smiling on the tired fast bowler. A series of balls that were banged in short of length were served up in the next over, all of which was pushed away without any fuss. Off his penultimate ball of the spell, Bond sent one full and on the middle and leg, hoping to trap an lbw decision but it was nonchalantly flicked past the square-leg. And that was that.

When he came back for his second spell in the 34th over, he operated on two lengths - bouncers and just short of driveable length. He even attempted a yorker, his first of the day, in his eight over.

However the dark clouds cleared for him even as the sun was setting in the western sky. Off the penultimate ball of the 47 th over, his ninth, he finally got one to pitch full and just short of driveable length to clean up a tailender. He looked more relieved than happy as he slowly halted his follow-through, came to a stop somewhere in the middle of the pitch and just stood silently. His team-mates, however, realised the importance of the wicket and ran towards him to high-five. Slowly, the hand stretched out and the tired lips spread into a smile. Bond had found his first clue and his hunt will continue another day.