Karl on ... Shane Bond

I was wondering last night whether Shane Bond is better or worse since coming back from injury. It seems that when bowlers come back from injury and have to remodel their action and (in the case of Bond) undergo major surgery then their performance seems to deteriorate.

Looking at ODI figures only, Bond's career to date seems to have had two major phases. The first phase started with his first match against Australia in January 2002, where he took 3-53 to his 27th game, against Pakistan in May 2003, where he took 2-7 off 5 overs. By the end of this phase, his career record was astonishing. 27 games, 51 wickets at an average of 19.00, with best figures of 6-23.

The second phase started last year in Zimbabwe at Bulawayo. In this time he's played 15 games, taken 29 wickets at an average of 18.27, with best figures of 6-19 (against India).

His career figures are 42 games, 80 wickets at an average of 18.73. Of bowlers who have bowled at least 1000 balls, he has the best average in ODIs across all countries. Only six bowlers took fewer games to reach 50 wickets. And at his current wicket-taking rate, he could be the quickest to 100.

He turns 31 in June - let's hope that his body is able to withstand the rigours of international cricket for another four years.