The Good

Surprisingly there are many encouraging aspects to emerge from the debris of New Zealand's tri-series campaign, an effort that started with a meek loss to Australia and ended with a meek loss to England, up until that point the laughing stock of the cricketing world.

It's true, the memory of Tuesday's gigantic choke at the Gabba makes it hard to look on the bright side of life, but if you can avert your gaze from the most gory scenes, there were a few signs of hope around the crash-site.

For starters, there was the excellent impression made by new paceman Mark Gillespie, who will be remembered for peppering the Australian middle-order in a surprisingly hostile spell at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and for his consistently honest work through the tournament.

Not only did the big-hearted Wellington quickie go a long way to proving himself in international cricket's most demanding environment, he also managed to make a name for himself in television's "classic catches" competition, after an astonishing effort at Adelaide.

Then there was batsman Lou Vincent, who was injected into the side like a dose of adrenalin, not only making a name for himself at the top of the order, but also becoming the one livewire fieldsman in the side with a capable pair of hands.

And who could forget Jacob Oram's feats at Adelaide and Perth, when he awoke a previously near catatonic Australian public with a hitting blitz that had respected commentators comparing him with Ian Botham and Viv Richards.

Ross Taylor had his inconsistent moments both with the bat and in the field, but he at least removed any doubt about his readiness for international cricket, scoring brilliant half-centuries at Hobart and Perth and marking himself as a potential world cup star.

New Zealand supporters would have been heartened, too, by Brendon McCullum's maturity after the wicket-keeper was demoted back to No 7, where he played a vital hand in several crucial partnerships at Adelaide and Perth.

And honourable mentions might include Shane Bond's resurgent form near the end of the series and the wicket-taking ability of Daniel Vettori and James Franklin, although it's hard to dwell on either left-armer without starting to remember the ... oh hell, here we go again.


The Bad

Where do we start? The toughest part of this exercise was trying to reduce the worst aspects of New Zealand's tri-series effort into a single story, rather than two 100,000-word volumes.