Ross Taylor hopes some of new New Zealand cricket coach John Wright's mental toughness as a player will rub off on the current crop of batsmen as they seek a quick turnaround from the first test train wreck at Seddon Park.
The test was scheduled to end at about 6pm last night but by that stage New Zealand had already had a day off to get their heads straight and another day in the nets under the Hamilton sun, such was their dismal showing with the bat in a 10-wicket defeat to Pakistan here inside three days.
It was an inauspicious test debut for Wright as coach of the team and attention now shifts to Wellington's Basin Reserve, for the second of two tests which starts on Saturday.
The top six are under the gun and will be all week after folding meekly to be all out for 110 in the second innings, losing all 10 wickets for 74 runs in the final session.
Taylor, the vice-captain and senior batsman, is feeling the heat, in particular, after a lean run at test level which has yielded just 172 runs in his past eight test innings. But he is not alone.
"The batters need to have a good look at themselves, and myself included," he said before yesterday's net session.
"We need to step up. The performance that we put out for the public and the fans was just not good enough.
"We probably just need to tweak our mental state of mind and our shot selection, I thought that was very poor, but it was only a couple of test matches ago that we played very well against India."
Two draws and some decent efforts with the bat in India last November, which preceded a capitulation in the third test, were among the reasons Taylor believed the poor showing against Pakistan would not be repeated at the Basin Reserve, as was Wright's expression of confidence in the players.
"John was disappointed but it was nice for him to say that he thought we could win (at Wellington) and I think the whole team took a lot out of that," Taylor, 26, said.
"He (Wright) is very softly spoken and very passionate about New Zealand and the New Zealand cricket team. He has the best interests of the players and the public in mind and he tries to instil that in us."
Wright scored 5334 runs at 37.82 in 82 tests and was known for his fight and hard graft, on and off the field. Taylor said that approach to test cricket was what the current team needed.
"The way that John coaches and the way he comes across, he is very big on test cricket. He had a very successful test career for New Zealand and he was a very hard player so hopefully that can rub off on us."
Taylor rejected suggestions eighth-ranked New Zealand were simply not as good as sixth-ranked Pakistan and said there was belief that they could level the series at Wellington.
"I thought Pakistan bowled really well, we've got to give them credit, but we've got to acknowledge that they way we played wasn't good enough.
There was no lack of commitment, he said, simply that poor shot selection and not enough willingness batting time were their chief crimes.
"You look at the way Martin Guptill batted in the first innings, he got 50 off 160 balls and we need to take a leaf out of that book."
- NZPA
Ross Taylor and Daniel Vettori react after losing the first test to Pakistan. Photo / Getty Images
