Cricket: The best is yet to come ...

By RICHARD BOOCK

And so ended the most disappointing tour in New Zealand cricket history, a lamentable advertisement for the game and in terms of entertainment almost a breach of the Consumer Guarantees Act.

Worse teams than India have visited New Zealand before, but never one with the billing of this summer's tourists, who - weighed down by glittering jewellery and an unprecedented amount of baggage, arrived as the wealthiest players in the world.

They were supposed to be the dream team, the Harlem Globetrotters of cricket, a side powerful enough to provide New Zealand with a searching challenge before the ever-looming World Cup.

They were to be a stepping-stone; the sort of reality check New Zealand would benefit from as they approached next month's tournament opener against Sri Lanka.

But India were scarcely recognisable as the team who had performed so well during their earlier series, flopping so badly that they might have been a composite side drawn from the business houses of Wellington and Auckland.

Had a band played so poorly there would have been rotten fruit thrown all night.

As it was, it said something for the benign nature of the sporting Kiwi that India were able to escape with nothing more than their reputations in tatters, although it must be conceded that they still have to face their own fans.

But the damage in terms of New Zealand's World Cup build-up is still being calculated.

At a time when the Sri Lankans are warming up for the tournament with a heavy-duty schedule in Australia, New Zealand are still trying to find answers to questions that were not adequately tested by India.

That there were plenty of encouraging signs for Stephen Fleming's side is not in dispute. His seam bowlers harnessed the conditions intelligently and lent more weight to his theory that attacking with the ball is essential now that there is provision for one bouncer an over.

Individually, each of New Zealand's World Cup pace bowlers made strong progress, and will enjoy reflecting on a series in which they dominated and subdued some of the most dangerous batsmen in the world.

Daryl Tuffey continued on from where he finished against England last summer, scything through the Indian top-order in match after match, to the extent that some of the tourists were almost fainting at the sight of him.

Deservedly named New Zealand's International Cricketer of the Year after his match-winning exploits, Tuffey not only bowled his side to wins in both tests, he also resurrected his ODI and World Cup career.

Kyle Mills was another to impress, both with his awkward movement and bounce and his level-headedness, given he had to cope with the added distraction of playing his first series at home amidst a television investigation into the legality of his action.

Then there was Andre Adams, an irrepressible character who seems to have a knack of picking up a wicket whenever he is introduced into the attack, even if he happens to be bowling complete rubbish at the time.

Happily for the hosts, he finally hit his straps in the final ODI at Hamilton, boosting his wicket tally to 14 (from just four matches) and demonstrating he was just as dangerous when bowling a tight line-and-length.

Coupled with his striking power with the bat, Adams has the potential to take the World Cup by storm.

For all that, the question not asked by the Indian batsmen concerned the ability of New Zealand's seam bowlers on unforgiving pitches against form opposition, and whether they were resourceful enough to handle the pressure.

South Africa has proved a graveyard for New Zealand pacemen in the past, mostly because the hard and fast wickets and lightning outfields favour bowlers who are genuinely special, or the batsmen.

Whatever the New Zealand bowlers might think of that, the conditions should be well-received by the New Zealand batsmen, who have also suffered during the series against India.

Fleming showed signs of finding his touch during a pleasant innings at Hamilton and Scott Styris' ability continues to grow, but the low-scoring contests against India meant few in the top-order will be feeling comfortable.

The most dire case is undoubtedly Craig McMillan, an experienced ODI player who could play a crucial role for New Zealand at No.3 in South Africa if he was able to recapture some form.

Presuming Nathan Astle returns from injury and pairs up with Fleming at the top of the order, there is still an issue over who follows at No.3 and 4, positions presently held by Mathew Sinclair and Chris Cairns.

Sinclair's inconsistency was again highlighted in the series against India and Cairns appeared to be batting too high, something David Trist discovered three years ago when he unsuccessfully tried him at No.3.

Specialist batsman or not, Cairns has made his most significant contributions at No.5 or 6 during his 154-match career, including all four of his ODI centuries.

So the questions still linger.

Should Styris now be considered at No.4, where he has performed reasonably well for Northern Districts, therefore allowing Cairns to revert to his most successful position? And should Sinclair make way for McMillan?