HAVING TICKLED their taste buds, the post-match question was always going to be whether using two new white balls simultaneously agreed with their palate last night.
Oh, and what's the verdict on the permutations of the power play in the first round of the one-day Ford Cup competition in the men's domestic cricket season yesterday in Rangiora, near Christchurch?
Okay, it's plausible to assume there's a hint of sour grapes here because of the Devon Hotel Central Districts Stags' 66-run loss at Mainpower Oval to the Canterbury Wizards but, that aside, the Stags sucked on the new flavours before spitting them out.
Feeling it is still in the test-tube status, CD batsman Mathew Sinclair last night said the two-ball and power-play changes were significant.
"Look, I find it quite different and I prefer the old rules," the 36-year-old former international said, grappling with his choice of words.
"In the New Zealand conditions and two white balls ... mate, I don't know," No 4 batsman Sinclair said after top scoring with 61 runs from 71 balls.
The ball swung right through the innings, he lamented, after Canterbury won the toss and amassed 268-7 from their 50 allotted overs.
It placed immense pressure on the top-order batsmen, prompting them to leave more deliveries than they would normally do.
"We need to experiment them in other regions, especially Hamilton and Auckland, where the lush growth on wickets will mean the balls will stay newer," the CD record run-scoring machine said, adding it prompted the need to adopt a different mindset when setting and chasing targets.
The variables also meant, he said, batsmen might prefer a ball from one end more than the other depending on how quick the sheen wore off it.
On a lighter note, Sinclair said both umpires and bowlers were often waiting at the crease for the ball after an umpires pocketed them following each over.
Taking the batting power play before the 40th over and the fielding restrictions posed new pressures, too.
"Canterbury brought on two spinners," he said although adding he enjoyed giving some stick to former CD left-arm spinner/batsman George Worker.
"A few more earthquakes will shake him up," a jovial Sinclair said of Worker who made 50 runs off 86 balls for the Wizards.
Nevertheless, he didn't think all that detracted from the fact that CD were missing "some of the all-round fundamentals".
To make his point, Sinclair felt the Stags didn't look at establishing partnerships and preserving wickets in the first 10 overs.
He lauded No 3 batsman Ben Smith (54 runs from 93 balls) for establishing a third-wicket partnership with him in what indubitably was the foundation to build CD's innings.
"I think he's a fine talent for CD. For someone on debut he was a pretty cool, calm and collected customer.
"I spoke to him a few times and he responded very well but now he needs to go out to get a hundred after making lots of 50," he said of the Wanganui 20-year-old who impressed in the four-day Plunket Shield campaign this summer.
The fresh legs of veteran seamer Michael Mason and rested Adam Milne, he said, made them the pick of bowlers.
Overall, Sinclair was disappointed "coming second".
Warm fuzzies aside, CD coach Alan Hunt didn't mince words last night.
"Canterbury outplayed us pretty convincingly.
"Apart from Skippy and Ben, we didn't kick on," Hunt said, feeling his troops needed to be more cautious.
"There were some loose shots from Jamie and Pete and they got out," the Auckland coach said of openers How and Ingram who were out contributing a dozen runs each as CD stuttered to 202 all out with five overs remaining.
While the wicket did more than when the Wizards batted in the morning, Hunt bemoaned the Stags' shot selection and management of the innings.
Needing about 120 runs off as many balls with seven wickets in hand, CD "got no where near it".
"Mentally we're not there at all," Hunt said, mindful the players would spend two nights on the beds at their homes after a fortnight on the road before their next match away against Auckland at Colin Maiden Park for a four-day shield affair.
Mason and Milne apaert, he didn't think his bowlers performed badly, even lauding leg spinner Tarun Nethula who got 1-60 off 10 overs.
"Tarun bowled quite well," Hunt said, claiming French cuts slipped past wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk a few times.
New Zealand-born Dutch international Peter Borren was "steady" on debut with 2-55 off 10 overs, including a maiden.
While Smith is talented, Hunt feels his 54 from 93 balls suggests he got bogged down a little bit.
"We expect big things from Ben and he'll fire some times."
At Bert Sutcliffe Oval, in Lincoln, the Auckland Aces beat the Wellington Firebirds by 77 runs.
No batsmen got to a half ton in a team effort while Michael Papps' 71 was Wellington's reply.
Further south, the Otago Volts thumped the Northern Districts Knights by 111 runs at the University Oval, in Dunedin.
Otago Craig Cumming scored 123 runs before he was run out.