Richard Boock: When the security staff dozed off

New Zealand at least achieved one notable distinction before bowing out of the second test yesterday - they became the first touring side in living memory to send the Adelaide Oval security forces to sleep.

Beaten for the sixth time in the past nine tests, with the dual wins over Bangladesh becoming more credible by the week, the New Zealand team will disband in tatters today after becoming the first major casualty of the Australian summer.

The only genuine consolation is that there wasn't a third test scheduled, because the New Zealand top-order are in such a fragile state of mind that they now only have to see an Australian bowler to be given out fainted, or otherwise petrified.

Ditto for the pace bowlers, who also look in need of a long stretch at a health farm, complete with piped lounge music and pink-padded cells.

But if New Zealand needed any further confirmation that they had fallen off the Australian radar yesterday, they only had to consider the performance of the Adelaide Oval security staff, a traditionally uptight group of spoilers, who have a well-deserved reputation for pedantry.

At the start of the match it was difficult for many to get into the ground such was the determination that everyone should dress as if they were in a 1950s movie, despite the temperatures reaching 38C.

Matthew Hayden's pregnant wife was refused entry because she was wearing a dress with a loose-fitting top, another woman was ejected because the skirt she wore had a fringed hem, and anyone daring to wear jandals anywhere near the members' area was almost frog-marched to the gates.

For all that, by the time New Zealand had sewn together four consecutive days of appalling cricket, an air of complete disinterest had descended over the test.

Ground authorities opted to waive an entrance fee yesterday, Cricket Australia allowed the day's play to be screened live in South Australia, and the usually-neurotic security failed to turn up on time.

You could have danced through the front gates naked (or worse, in jandals) and sauntered into the corporate area with a rocket-launcher slung over your shoulder.

Mercifully, interest has now been deflected by the arrival of the touring Pakistan side, but there will still be some searching questions hovering over the test team in New Zealand, and some tough decisions ahead for coach John Bracewell.

Craig McMillan's future is clearly in the balance, Mark Richardson appears to be in decline, and Scott Styris and Nathan Astle are battling. Mathew Sinclair is not an opener, Stephen Fleming possibly is, and Hamish Marshall remains an enigma.

There are also gaping holes in the bowling attack, which could not find any sort of cohesion as a unit and was subsequently unable to build any pressure on the Australian batsmen.

Ian Butler is another who might have cause for concern after not being required in either test, despite the fact that the Gabba was bouncing like an old Perth pitch, and the players preferred to him proved completely ineffective.

The dilemma for Bracewell now is how to cut his losses, considering he has invested so much in players such as Marshall and Butler, but hasn't discovered much about their capabilities.