Former New Zealand cricketer Shane Bond, who is the fastest player from the country to bag 50 Test wickets, was born on this day in 1975.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) took to its official Twitter handle and extended its warm birthday greetings to Bond, who turned 45 on Sunday.

Shane Bond is a former New Zealand cricketer who was known for his fiery, pacey bowling. He was born on 7th June 1975 and hails from Christchurch in Canterbury, New Zealand.

He bowled right-arm fast and his toe-breaking Yorkers were dreaded by even the best of batsmen. If not for his recurrent injuries. He had the potential to become one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time.

His fastest delivery was recorded at 156.4 km/h. His athletic action was geared towards inswing and his pace which made the ball swing very late. Able to swing the ball both ways, batsmen feared facing him in his day.

He made his international debut on 22nd November 2001, against Australia in a Test match at Hobart. It was a disappointing debut as he recorded figures of 1/135 while Australia piled on 558 runs.

His ODI debut in January 2002 was rather more successful as he picked up three wickets for 53 runs, helping New Zealand defend a low total of 199 against the Aussies.

He continued his great form in ODIs as he was the leading wicket-taker in the VB Series a month later, picking up 21 wickets at an economy of 16.38.

After a series of unsuccessful spells and injuries piling on, Bond retired from international cricket in May 2010.

Bond was appointed as New Zealand’s bowling coach in October 2012. He was credited with enhancing the performances of Tim Southee and Trent Boult. He left the position after the 2015 ICC World Cup. There New Zealand made it to the final but lost to Australia.

Since then, Bond has been the bowling coach of Mumbai Indians in the IPL. He is set to be the bowling coach of Chennai Super Kings from 2018.