Bond is back in Black Caps, grown men weep for joy

This is bigger than The Ressurection:

Shane Bond is set to play his first international matches in nearly two years after being named in New Zealand's one-day squad to tour Sri Lanka in August and September. However, Bond's hopes of a Test recall will depend on whether he can prove himself in the longer formats having focused largely on limited-overs games since 2007.

Bond and his fellow former ICL player Daryl Tuffey were both included after severing their ties with the unsanctioned Twenty20 league. Tuffey was picked in the Test squad and Bond, 34, for the ODIs and Twenty20s, and the head of the selection panel, Glenn Turner, said New Zealand would take a cautious approach with the injury-prone Bond.

"He's expressed a desire to play in Tests and that would be great if that could happen," Turner told Cricinfo. "But he hasn't played in the longer form of the game for a while now. He didn't play in the State Championship for Canterbury this year so we're just tiptoeing around that for a while. Once he has got his workloads up we'll see, but if he's injured then he's no use in either format."

Bond will warm up for his international comeback by visiting India with New Zealand A in August. His most recent taste of first-class cricket came during a county stint with Hampshire just over a year ago.

Tuffey, 31, missed out on a central contract last month but will be straight into the mix for the two Tests in a squad that features only three frontline seamers, with no room for James Franklin and Tim Southee. He has not represented New Zealand since the 2007 World Cup and hasn't played a Test since 2004 but Turner was confident Tuffey was ready to step back in after taking 27 first-class wickets at 22 during the New Zealand domestic summer.

"Daryl did prove himself last season for Auckland," Turner said. "He was the second top wicket taker in the State Championship and he was able to stay on the park. He bowled very nicely during that period. There's only three frontline fast bowlers in the party and in the conditions over there we're only likely to play two of them. We don't know who the two will be. He does swing the ball. It's a bit of a wait and see for Daryl as well."