Northern Districts’ fast bowler Ian Butler has been rushed into the CLEAR Black Caps for Wednesday’s first One-Day International against England at Jade Stadium

Lynn McConnell11-Feb-2002Northern Districts’ fast bowler Ian Butler has been rushed into the CLEAR Black Caps for Wednesday’s first One-Day International against England at Jade Stadium.Butler, who turned 20 in November, has been called in to take the place of speedster Shane Bond who has been forced out for the remainder of the season with a suspected stress fracture of his left ankle.Butler made his first-class debut this year and has played three State Championship games and two State Shield (New Zealand’s domestic one-day competition) games. He also played for Northern Districts in the two one-day matches against England on Friday and Saturday.Butler said there was a silence on the telephone after selection chairman Sir Richard Hadlee contacted him today.”I was about to go to the driving range but there was no chance after that,” he said.Butler was catching a plane from Auckland to Christchurch tonight where he will make himself known to all the other members of the side who, apart from his Northern Districts team-mates Daniel Vettori and Daryl Tuffey, and his New Zealand Under-19 team-mate from last year, Brendon McCullum, have still to meet him.Butler said the ND pace attack of Joseph Yovich, Tuffey and Simon Doull worked well together and they passed on tips and advice to him regularly.Butler was confident he wouldn’t be too nervous on Jade Stadium as he felt he didn’t bowl too badly against England for ND.Hadlee said the selectors were taking a big punt but added that if Butler did half as well as Bond had done then they would be very happy.Hadlee said the loss of Bond was a devastating blow to Bond and to the team.”When we have just got a tremendous resource and asset to lose him like that is a great blow. So now we have got to try and groom somebody else to do that role,” he said.He said the selectors were unanimous in giving Butler a try in a bid to keep the pace option as part of New Zealand’s attacking arsenal during the England series. Butler will be instructed to bowl flat out.Hadlee also pointed to the history in New Zealand of taking a punt on faster bowlers as had happened to him, to Gary Bartlett, Bruce Taylor and his brother Dayle Hadlee.”If somebody has got something a little bit different, and special, it gives an advantage over somebody else and that is often influential in making the final call,” Hadlee said.”If we are looking down the track at the World Cup and potentially as a young Test bowler of the future as well, sometimes you have got to take a bit of a punt on a player.”This is probably the biggest call we have made in my time as a selector.”Hadlee said he had not seen a lot of him bowling although he did see him last year at Under-19 level when ND played Otago and he bowled very quickly and took four wickets in his first four overs as well as giving McCullum “a bit of a hurry up.””So there were signs going back last year. The other selectors have been around the ground domestically this year and when you talk to coaches they are our eyes and ears anyway.”The information is positive but still, it is a huge call,” he said.Bond first felt the ankle two weeks ago in Australia and it was thought he was only suffering bruising. However, he bowled in the last of the VB Series finals in pain and upon coming back to New Zealand had the ankle looked at and the stress fracture was revealed today.Hadlee said the one-day game had changed and quicker bowlers were now being used not only for the short-pitched delivery.”The way the law is used quick bowlers have got a more important role to play so you are looking for specialist fast bowlers, in fact, if anything, the all-rounder who bowls at 120kph and bats a bit off the front foot is going to find it difficult now to survive in the one-day game,” he said.ND coach Bruce Blair had advised Hadlee that Butler’s lines were the best of the quick bowlers in the ND side.Hadlee said there would be some comment about how Butler had leap-frogged other players like James Franklin and Chris Drum to name two.”But this guy Butler has pace whereas the others don’t have that. They have other skills. Let’s just see what happens,” he said.