KEY POINTS:
It may sound like stating the bleeding obvious, but if the Black Caps want to succeed at the upcoming World Cup in the West Indies, they need to pay a lot of attention to developing momentum.
I get a bit antsy when I hear John Bracewell talking about
ringing the changes this summer because, for my money, there's nothing quite as important in a World Cup tournament as stability and consistency.
Train-spotters will be quick to point out that Australia came from nowhere to win in 1999 but, for mere mortal teams, the best chance of success is to develop a winning habit, and to hit the ground running.
It's true, New Zealand have an enormous lead-in to the tournament with 16 ODIs assured, and there's a bit of space there for Bracewell to tinker and come up with fresh ideas and, maybe, personnel.
The plan to trial Brendon McCullum up the order is probably overdue, and something I've advocated all year, and I'm also confident that Ross Taylor will make the next step up, this time for good.
But hopefully, Bracewell won't get too carried away with his information-gathering exercises, and will have his prospective World Cup squad playing together for about the last 10 games of the summer.
That means settling on his combination midway through the tri-series in Australia, and then going all out to help the team to establish a winning pattern in time for the big hoolie in March.
Winning has a profound psychological effect on a team, just as losing does. Winning breeds confidence and gets team members thinking positively, to the extent it almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Guys in winning teams dream of success, they explore new ways of finding success, and they recognise more readily the quickest path to success.
In losing sides, players dread failure, they concentrate on trying to avoid failure and, because of that, are distracted by the negativity that surrounds past performances and results.
That's why I'd hate to see Bracewell leaving his run too late in the piece, and finding that his players aren't quite up to speed when they square off against England in their opening World Cup match at St Lucia.
In terms of the past year, it's hardly been a vintage one for the New Zealand cricketers, with little success achieved on the road by either the test side or the one-day squad, and a pretty soft home programme.
I expected New Zealand to knock over Sri Lanka and the West Indies as they did at the start of this year, but I thought the side might have performed better than they did in South Africa, and during their Champions Trophy campaign.
But that was nothing compared with the shock I felt at the way the test side capitulated against Sri Lanka this week at the Basin Reserve, in the process allowing a precious series win to slip through their fingers.
That should never happen to New Zealand at home, particularly against a side that usually struggles in this part of the world.
The New Zealand players are better than that, I've no doubt about it; but I just hope for everyone's sake they come right for the one-dayers, and that Bracewell gives them a chance to settle before the World Cup.
He can talk until he's blue in the face about rotation, resting and recuperation, but to me, the key to success is so fundamental it's almost in danger of slipping under the radar.
They just need a winning habit.
