Big Bash League 2015-16 just got more exciting as former New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond joined Brisbane Heat as an assistant coach.
Shane Bond joins Brisbane Heat as an assistant coach.
Bond will assist fellow Kiwi Daniel Vettori who replaced Stuart Law as the head coach of Brisbane Heat in April. Bond played 18 tests and 82 ODIs for New Zealand between 2001-2009 and picked up 87 and 147 wickets respectively in the two formats. His career was cut short due to a recurring back injury.
The 5th season of Big Bash League will be played from 17th December 2015 to January 24, 2016, and the schedule for the BBL 05 can be downloaded in pdf format from here.
Shane Bond has been one of the most sought after coaches and is the part of coaching staff of the Indian Premier League team Mumbai Indians and Bond has helped them win the IPL title this year.
Along with that, Shane Bond is also the bowling coach of the New Zealand bowling coach and his stint has shown massive improvement in the bowling department of New Zealand. The Kiwi team reached the finals of the ICC World Cup 2015 and that was majorly due to the bowling performances of Trent Boult, Matt Henry, Tim Southee and Mitchell McClenaghan.
Daniel Vettori is the head coach for Brisbane Heat
Heat coach Daniel Vettori said,
“Shane is an excellent coach and a very good bowling tactician, especially in T20. He was highly regarded for his recent work with Mumbai in the IPL recently and I know he is looking forward to the challenge of working in the competitive environment that the BBL brings.”
Bond who was considered one of the best fast bowlers and often compared with the great Sir Richard Hadlee, said “They (IPL and BBL) are arguably the two leading T20 competitions in the world so I’m keen to get to grip with the Big Bash after being impressed with the standard as an outsider looking in,’’
The Heats had a crushing season of BBL last year when they managed to win just 2 matches and finished at the bottom of the table.
While veteran all-rounder James Hopes decided to play for one more season, Heats’ playing squad was improved with the signings of West Indian Samuel Badree and Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum. Badree is the number 1 ranked T20 bowler currently while McCullum is regarded as one of the best T20 players in the world and perhaps the most destructive along with Chris Gayle.
The 5th season of Big Bash league will be broadcasted on Network Ten in Australia and Star Sports network in India. The Live streaming of the matches can be viewed on online on mobile phones via the Live App of Cricket Australia, as well as live scores and highlights on bigbash.com.au.
Brisbane Heat BBL|05 Squad: Samuel Badree (international), Nick Buchanan, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Andrew Fekete, Peter Forrest, James Hopes, Chris Lynn, Brendon McCullum (international) Jimmy Peirson, Nathan Reardon, Mark Steketee.
