KEY POINTS:
New Zealand are at a low ebb, as happens to most teams as they leave Australia.
Suggest the Aussies are on the wane and you're likely to get a sharp response.
But New Zealand let themselves down at both Brisbane and Adelaide. Had
they been on top of
their game, they could have won at Brisbane and should certainly have been in the frame for at least a draw at Adelaide, had their batsmen not got it awfully wrong in all four innings in the series.
So what should happen to put things right? For a start the temperature in the oven won't be as high at Dunedin next week, and Napier a few
days later for the two tests against the West Indies, as it was across the Tasman.
Second, the West Indies aren't Australia. Things for the national selectors, and the players, to contemplate...
1 THE BATSMEN NEED TO HARDEN UP
This is not about puffing out the chest, but about their mindset and
technique, and learning to value their wicket.
Once players reach the top, it's assumed their technical game is in place. It may be, for the purpose of functioning successfully at
domestic first-class level.
But the test arena is unforgiving.
There are three men at the top of the off-field tree who made their living as opening batsmen. Glenn Turner is manager of the selection panel. He scored more than 100 first-class centuries so he's got a fair
idea what it's all about.
No one sold his wicket more dearly than John Wright, who joined the selection panel last week.
New coach Andy Moles spent a dozen years at Warwickshire as a No 3 or
opener. He got 29 first-class hundreds and retired with an average of 40.
Moles has spoken of the crucial importance of the first 18 balls a batsman faces, particularly, but not exclusively, the openers.
"Massive" he calls that period, and the more deliveries a batsman leaves
in that opening spell the better as he works out what's going on in terms of bounce and pace of the pitch.
There was precious little of that assessment going on in Australia as New Zealand's happy hitters went about their business.
The team for the first test at Dunedin's University Oval is to be named tomorrow.
There's a prevailing wisdom to avoid change unless it's absolutely
necessary, but it may be that with a new coach taking charge, the selectors view it as a good time to shuffle the deck.
Whoever is chosen for Dunedin, there needs to be a sharpening of the mind to the job in hand.
The shot selection in Australia was, at times, awful and a fair number of the specialists would have avoided eye contact with their bowling mates.
They need to develop patience, put the one-day or Twenty20 extravagances aside for other times in the summer.
The rot has to stop in Dunedin - or at least let this test be the start of the end of the rot.
2 DON'T USE THE COACH AS A FALL GUY
To be fair, several players speak highly of recently departed coach John Bracewell.
Daniel Vettori relished working with the former offspinner and the captain was not alone.
Critics of the New Zealand performance under Bracewell, particularly in
the test game, are wrong to sheet all responsibility for a poor run of results back to the guy sitting in the stand.
Without wanting to sound over-simplistic, he doesn't waft aimlessly outside offstump, or bowl the half tracker to Ricky Ponting.
In the same vein, Moles is likely to introduce change to elements like practice sessions. He will have fresh ideas. He will talk of the
need for strong minds and his desire for players to raise their personal bar. From there, players need to pick up the ball, or bat, and
run with it.
3 CATCHES WIN MATCHES
It's an oldie but still has a resonance to it.
Simon Katich was put down twice on his way to a match-deciding 131 not out in the second innings at Brisbane. Fast-medium Iain O'Brien
dropped a sharpish return catch when Katich was on 70 and Australia's overall lead 197. Had he held it, Australia would have been seven down.
Soon after, on 86, Katich was dropped by Jesse Ryder at short leg. He went hard at the catch, hinting at nerves. Australia were then 225
ahead, and would have had just two wickets standing. The tail wagged and
another 100 runs were added to an eventual target of 327.
New Zealand fell 150 runs short, so theoretically they may not have affected the final outcome. But that's not the point. New Zealand took
some good catches in Australia but two critical ones went down.
4 BOWLERS MUST USE THE HOME CONDITIONS
The bowlers generally did well in Australia, although they were unable to knock down the door which had been levered open at 247 for five
chasing New Zealand's 270 in Adelaide.
They should enjoy conditions in Dunedin, and importantly they'll know how to bowl in them. Ditto Napier where bowlers need to work hard, but they can enjoy good rewards.
Dan Vettori won't last the summer if he's obliged to churn through the overs he has so far in Bangladesh and Australia. A cutting
edge, plus a holding operator, need to be sorted out.
The bowlers must have plans in place for the senior West Indies batsmen, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shiv Chanderpaul, and stick to them.
