Cricket: ODI win just the ticket for a team about to be tested

Black Caps skipper Daniel Vettori says his team's confidence has been raised. Photo / Getty Images

The significance of New Zealand's consolation win in the fifth and final ODI against India should come in both mental and practical terms.

Having been duffed about in the three games in which both teams batted, New Zealand found conditions they liked at Eden Park and produced a performance more akin to what has been expected.

The eight-wicket win, achieved on the back of a strong allround effort from Jesse Ryder, and handy contributions from his chums, will have helped them feel good about themselves ahead of the start of the first test in Hamilton on Wednesday.

This might sound trite, but when you have been belted from pillar to post, dismissing the opposition for less than 150 will have enabled the bowlers to get a spring back in their step.

Then to win with plenty of overs up their sleeve as opposed to getting home in a squeaky scramble, rounded off a day which will have provided some good vibes going into the three tests.

And in real terms, they've probably raised a couple of Indian eyebrows to at least give them pause for thought in their test planning.

"We misread the wicket," said India's captain M.S. Dhoni after Saturday's loss, conceding his batsmen had not adjusted to the conditions.

"We played shots that didn't really come up very well in this game. Throughout the series we have played big shots which were paying off, but this time we lost a few wickets and put ourselves under pressure."

True, and choosing to bat first when all the evidence cried out for doing the opposite, was odd. But it is their preference, and who's to argue when you're streeting the opposition, up to Saturday at least.

New Zealand's captain Dan Vettori was singing a different tune, and from a much happier dressing room.

"It [the win] puts us in a good space," he said.

"If you lose a series outright 4-0 you can get demoralised. The guys will take that confidence into the test series.

"It's going to be a massive challenge with [Sachin] Tendulkar, [Rahul] Dravid and [V.V.S.] Laxman coming back into the mix."

Indeed it is, with the three remaining members of perhaps the finest middle order quartet in test history to flex their collective muscles, probably for the final time in New Zealand.

While Virendar Sehwag was creaming the New Zealand bowlers in the ODI series, and is unlikely to significantly change his approach in the tests, Dravid and Laxman and above all Tendulkar are men of different, more orthodox but highly effective methods.

So the challenge will be big, but different, from the ODI series.

For New Zealand, the next two days will be given over to sorting out the best bowling attack to not only contain the Indians but get wickets, to attack and try and put some heat on them.

The key figure in this could be Chris Martin, who must impress in the nets to get a recall.