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It's headache time for New Zealand's selectors as they search for batsmen who will prosper in England next month.
Yesterday's 121-run loss gave the tourists a 2-1 test series win, and a mighty fillip ahead of the return bout.
Top of the priorities will be sorting out a
collection of batsmen who can not only survive but succeed in demanding early-season conditions in England.
Stephen Fleming won't be there to nursemaid players along. Mathew Sinclair is unlikely to make it after having five tests to cement his place and failing to take it.
Opener Matthew Bell might just hang on after grafting 69 in the second innings at McLean Park on Tuesday; the downside was his awful dismissal straight after tea at a point where New Zealand were getting into a position from which a draw, and squared series, was looking possible.
Instead, it was all over half an hour after lunch yesterday, New Zealand bowled out for 431, undone by left arm spinner Monty Panesar's best test figures of six for 129.
And they would have been significantly better had it not been for Tim Southee's thrilling late burst of 77 not out from 40 balls. His innings, with its similarities of opposition, target and stage of the chase, bore an uncanny resemblance to Nathan Astle's stunning double century assault on England six years ago.
Allied to his bowling, it confirmed the arrival of a player who should become a fixture in the national side.
In similar vein, Ross Taylor's performance in the series, which ended with a larruping 74 yesterday morning to finish with a series average of 51.66, showcased a player of uncommon talent.
But New Zealand could have few complaints. Their target of 553 would have been a world record fourth innings chase by a mile and well beyond this New Zealand lineup.
"From No 5 down we are a pretty settled side," captain Daniel Vettori said yesterday. "Certainly we have some work to do on finding a top four who can survive at international cricket and prosper. If we're honest, it's been a problem for a long time. "
Vettori was"bitterly disappointed" at the outcome of the series after New Zealand had taken the opening set with an emphatic win in the first test.
England skipper Michael Vaughan pinpointed the Tim Ambrose-Paul Collingwood sixth wicket stand in the final two hours of day one in the second match at the Basin Reserve, which rescued England from 136 for five, as the defining part of the series. No argument there.
"That partnership was massive. We could have got bowled out for 200 and who knows how the series might have ended up," Vaughan said.
New Zealand will search for batting saviours; England will celebrate before round two of this six-test joust starts at Lord's on May 15.
