What was supposed to be a brave new dawn was exposed as nothing more than a brief mirage yesterday, as New Zealand succumbed to yet another bout of fourth-day-itis and lost the first test against Australia by nine wickets.
The brief optimism that followed the horrors of the one-day series
evaporated in the space of just 50 overs, following another case of suspected attention deficit syndrome from the New Zealand batsmen, most of whom might as well have left their bats in the dressing room.
Shot out for 131 in their second innings, the New Zealanders kicked as much as they played, to the extent that they received seven lbw decisions against them, equalling the world record set by Zimbabwe against England in June 2003.
Pakistan umpire Aleem Dar fired Craig Cumming, Lou Vincent, Daniel Vettori, Iain O'Brien and Chris Martin, and England veteran David Shepherd opted to terminate the innings of Stephen Fleming and Brendon McCullum.
There wasn't even any room for complaint, considering that all the decisions seemed reasonably justified, and the fact that Fleming probably should have been given his marching orders after a worthy lbw shout off the first ball of the day.
For all that, the home side still struck their usual fourth-day problems early in the piece, struggling against the seam of Jason Gillespie and spin of Shane Warne, and eventually perishing in a tick over three hours.
Gillespie removed Cumming and Vincent before the peerless Warne moved into action, ending the innings by grabbing three for none off his final nine balls, in the process taking his 29th five-wicket bag and boosting his world record tally to 573.
Australia, faced with scoring 132 to win in the space of 44 overs, needed no second invitation.
Justin Langer (72 not out) and Ricky Ponting (47 not out) shared in an unbeaten stand worth 110, with Ponting striking the winning runs at 5.07pm.
But possibly the most damming feature for New Zealand was the continuation of their nightmare performance on the fourth day of test matches, dating back to the second test against Pakistan at Wellington last summer.
In that time New Zealand have managed to crumble and lose six tests after scoring more than 350 runs in the first innings, and a total of eight after losing their way hopelessly on the fourth day.
The litany of losses includes last season's collapse against Pakistan when they folded for 103, the three-nil whitewash in England (where they squandered positions of command on each occasion), a woeful 76 at Brisbane last November, and yesterday's misery.
In typical fashion, New Zealand had fought hard to end day three on an even footing with Australia, Daniel Vettori taking his 12th five-wicket bag and his sixth against the Neighbours, and pushing his career tally to 193.
However, only a day later New Zealand had squandered all his good work and had lost the test, leaving as many questions over the batting line-up as the bowling attack, and causing some ominous predictions for the second test at Wellington, starting on Friday.
Fleming last night rubbished his team's batting effort, saying it was particularly disappointing to cave in again after proving more than competitive over the first couple of days.
"It's becoming a trend for our team - day four's got us again," he said. "There was poor batsmanship, a lack of application, and inadequate skills - as seven lbws would suggest.
"We've been paying a lot of attention to the fourth-day problem in the lead-up to this match, but the bottom line is that we have a glaring weakness involving most of the group, and it's obviously a mental problem as much as anything."
* Scoreboard
NEW ZEALAND
First innings
C. Cumming c Gillespie b Kasprowicz 74
S. Fleming lbw b Warne 18
H. Marshall b Warne 146
L. Vincent lbw b Clarke 27
N. Astle lbw b McGrath 74
C. McMillan c Gilchrist b McGrath 13
B. McCullum c Langer b McGrath 29
D. Vettori not out 24
J. Franklin lbw b McGrath 0
I. O'Brien c Gilchrist b McGrath 5
C. Martin c Gilchrist b McGrath 1
Extras (4b, 14lb, 2nb, 2w) 22
--Total (141 overs) 433
Fall: 1/56 (Fleming), 2/153 (Cumming), 3/199 (Vincent), 4/330 (Marshall), 5/355 (McMillan), 6/388 (Astle), 7/403 (McCullum), 8/403 (Franklin), 9/415 (O'Brien), 10/433 (Martin).
Bowling: G. McGrath 42-9-115-6, J. Gillespie 29-5-87-0 (2w), M. Kasprowicz 25-6-85-1 (2nb), S. Warne 40-6-112-2, M. Clarke 5-0-16-1.
Second innings
C. Cumming lbw b Gillespie 7
S. Fleming lbw b McGrath 17
H. Marshall b Warne 22
L. Vincent lbw b Gillespie 4
N. Astle b Kasprowicz 21
C. McMillan c Katich b Warne 5
B. McCullum lbw b Gillespie 24
D. Vettori lbw b Warne 23
J. Franklin not out 5
I. O'Brien lbw b Warne 0
C. Martin lbw b Warne 0
Extras (1b, 1lb, 1nb) 3
--Total (50 overs) 131
Fall: 1/20 (Fleming), 2/30 (Cumming), 3/34 (Vincent), 4/71 (Astle), 5/78 (McMillan), 6/87 (Marshall), 7/121 (McCullum), 8/127 (Vettori), 9/131 (O'Brien), 10/131 (Martin).
Bowling: G. McGrath 14-7-19-1, J. Gillespie 12-2-38-3, M. Kasprowicz 10-3-33-1 (1nb), S. Warne 14-3-39-5.
AUSTRALIA
First innings
J. Langer b Franklin 23
M. Hayden c Astle b O'Brien 35
R. Ponting c McCullum b Martin 46
D. Martyn lbw b Vettori 32
J. Gillespie c Cumming b Vettori 12
M. Clarke c McCullum b Franklin 8
S. Katich c Vincent b Astle 118
A. Gilchrist c O'Brien b Vettori 121
S. Warne c Astle b Vettori 2
M. Kasprowicz not out 13
G. McGrath lbw b Vettori 0
Extras (2b, 13lb, 4nb, 3w) 22
--Total (123.2 overs) 432
Fall: 1/48 (Langer), 2/75 (Hayden), 3/140 (Martyn), 4/147 (Ponting), 5/160 (Clarke), 6/201 (Gillespie), 7/413 (Gilchrist), 8/418 (Katich), 9/426 (Warne), 10/432 (McGrath).
Bowling: C. Martin 29-6-104-1 (1nb, 1w), J. Franklin 26-5-102-2 (2nb), I. O'Brien 14-3-73-1 (1nb, 2w), D. Vettori 40.2-13-106-5, N. Astle 14-6-32-1.
Second innings
J. Langer not out 72
M. Hayden c Cumming b Vettori 15
R. Ponting not out 47
Extras (1nb) 1
--Total (for 1 wkt, 31.3 overs) 135
Fall: 1/25 (Hayden).
Bowling: C. Martin 8-0-27-0, J. Franklin 5-1-26-0 (1nb), D. Vettori 13.3-0-55-1, I. O'Brien 5-0-27-0.
Cricket: Black Caps relive the horror of a fourth-day test cave-in
Australia's Shane Warne is congratulated after dismissing Chris Martin (left) lbw to end the NZ 2nd innings. The visitors won the test by nine wickets. Picture / Reuters
What was supposed to be a brave new dawn was exposed as nothing more than a brief mirage yesterday, as New Zealand succumbed to yet another bout of fourth-day-itis and lost the first test against Australia by nine wickets.
The brief optimism that followed the horrors of the one-day series
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