David Leggat: Black Caps' effort bodes well for ODIs

One good reason New Zealand didn't win the Champions Trophy final?

They avoided having to prance about in those white jackets - awarded to the winning team - which made the Australians look like a bunch of cruise ship crooners who had unexpectedly run aground at Centurion but were ready to break into a verse of Copacabana.

Still, the New Zealanders would have tolerated some dodgy dressing up if they'd been able to pocket the title yesterday. They collected US$1 million ($1.34 million) for their efforts, but money comes and goes; in the overall scheme of things that will amount to loose change for some of them once the divvying up is done; silverware would provide a validation for their efforts, plus the satisfaction of a line in the history book as the first two-time winner of the trophy.

And if they had it would have been a remarkable achievement, given that three first-choice players - Jesse Ryder, Jacob Oram (for bowling, if not, at the moment, batting) and the rejuvenated Daryl Tuffey - were lost to injury during the tournament, and inspirational captain Dan Vettori withdrew on the morning of the final with a hamstring injury.

It turned out to be a game too far for New Zealand, who had overcome a poor start to beat Sri Lanka, England and Pakistan in the space of nine days to improbably reach the final.

New Zealand then needed its best players to stand up yesterday. A bad day, then, for acting captain Brendon McCullum to have a nightmare - 14 balls for a duck and dropping a crucial skier - Ross Taylor to miss out again, and Grant Elliott, who carried New Zealand past Pakistan in the semifinal, to get a good ball from Brett Lee.

Above all, an awful day for Vettori to miss altogether. He is the team's best bowler and among its most reliable batsmen.

His innings' against Sri Lanka and Pakistan were top class, coming at critical times and in both cases things could have gone badly wrong for New Zealand but for his interventions. Importantly, he is also the on-field brain.

Australia's bowlers put a choke-hold on New Zealand's innings from the start and the batsmen did not possess the ability or nous to find a way to turn the momentum around.

Kyle Mills and Shane Bond did their best with the new ball - the former turning in an outstanding display to move fourth overall among New Zealand's ODI wicket takers, the latter re-emphasising his value after his 18-month absence.

But they had no backup. Ian Butler - luckless on McCullum's spill off Cameron White on 15, which would have had Australia a parlous 41 for three, en route to 62 - James Franklin and offspinner Jeetan Patel were unable to make Mills and Bond's parsimony and cutting edge count.

The tournament was an encouraging way for New Zealand to start their looming ODI commitments.

On November 3 they play the first of three matches against Pakistan in neutral Abu Dhabi; three more follow against Bangladesh in February and five against the Aussies in March.

Out of the tournament New Zealand saw Guptill reinforce his value in the top three; Elliott show he should stay in the middle order for the cool head he brings to the crease; Franklin suggest he is not a frontline first or second-change ODI bowler; and Taylor show he is a top class slip catcher.

The key performers? Vettori, Elliott, Guptill, Mills and Bond.

Those they needed more from? Taylor, McCullum, Broom, Franklin and Butler.

The biggest question remains what to do with McCullum. It boils down to this: do Vettori and coach Andy Moles - remember, that's now half the national selection panel - want two dashers at the top in a high risk, high reward approach, or move one of McCullum or Ryder down the order in favour of a more measured policy.

McCullum will argue strongly that, as he averages 37.17 in his current period as an opener - 43 ODIs - he should stay put.

Ryder, who has opened his entire, 21-game ODI career, is going at 35.38. Guptill, in seven ODIs as an opener, averages 62.2; he is at 44.26 for his 19 ODIs altogether. New Zealand haven't always had opening options like that. It poses an intriguing conundrum.