KEY POINTS:
It's hard to know which facet is a bigger concern as New Zealand's cricketing brains trust prepare for a home series against Australia then the World Cup.
To start with in New Zealand's failed tri-series it was the batting, now the pace bowling and fielding have overtaken it
in the basket labelled 'must do better -- quickly'.
Captain Stephen Fleming was grilled about where his team fell down in their six losses from eight here, and apportioned the blame equally, with a large focus on their mental state.
"No one particular area, I think it was across the board," he said.
"If you look at all our games in the tournament we've been just a few per cent off the money at crucial times."
Paceman Shane Bond's resurgence yesterday in the agonising 14-run loss to England, sparked by a magnificent inswinger to dismiss Michael Vaughan, was the most heartening sight as he ended with figures of four for 46.
But with former go-to man Kyle Mills in grave doubt for the World Cup due to a patella tendon tear in his left knee, and James Franklin and Mark Gillespie's form tailing off on better batting surfaces, there is plenty of room to improve.
Bond's new ball partner Franklin hasn't swung the ball in Australia but still had the respectable tri-series numbers of 10 wickets at an average of 27.50 and economy rate of 4.91.
In the last two matches he took two for 56 against Australia and one for 45 off eight last night.
"It's patchy. (Yesterday) we were just a little bit off the mark," Fleming said.
"The wickets got a bit better and we had to ask a little bit more of our bowlers. We're not quite there, just as the batting wasn't quite up to scratch at the start."
Were Mills ruled out, the selectors may plump for Andre Adams as an automatic World Cup replacement or look for more of a strike bowler in the form of seasoned campaigners Chris Martin or Daryl Tuffey.
Martin is a genuine new ball wicket-taker while Tuffey's name has been mentioned by coach John Bracewell as an improver.
He was New Zealand's former pace spearhead and he has returned from injury, although not with spectacular results at domestic level.
The fielding was an ongoing concern after dropped catches and a missed runout cost them victory over Australia in Sydney.
There were three more dropped catches yesterday but Fleming defended their touring fielding coach, Black Sox softballer Travis Wilson.
"Travis hasn't had a lot to do with our fielding patterns, more one on one stuff. It's more attention to detail from our players."
Bond was New Zealand's leading wicket-taker with 11 at 26.36 and an economy rate of 5.10.
Even key spinner Daniel Vettori suffered yesterday with 37 off six overs but the slower surfaces in the West Indies should see he and Scott Styris come into their own at the World Cup.
At the other end of the scale, Jacob Oram's spectacular batting, where he averaged 87 from five innings at a monster strike rate of 124, contrasted with his bowling where he took one wicket at 174 and an economy rate of 5.86.
"Just short of the mark. We're not icing the cake. We should have won this game in a canter, two or three down," Fleming said.
"It's maybe mental to start with but physically as well, with the ball we're not quite nailing it and bowling one four ball an over; with the batting getting close to having a winning partnership then a runout of a mishit, and England are back in the game.
"It's not much to turn but we've got to get it turned pretty quick."
While the middle order folded under heavy pressure last night, the return of Lou Vincent, who averaged an outstanding 65.75 in the series, Ross Taylor's two half-centuries and Fleming's first one-day century in three years sees the batting in reasonable shape.
- NZPA