Adam Parore: The balance of the team will only get worse

The same old story for New Zealand at the World Cup. The same problems ... and no easy answers.

When your batsmen can't score 250, you know your deficiencies are being exposed.

That, and the failure of Chris Cairns to front up as a bowler cost them dearly.

Cairns left a yawning gap in the bowling attack. If he had come back as the first change against Australia when they were struggling at 84 for seven, New Zealand would have won.

But the real problem was with the batsmen.

Whenever they were confronted by good bowling the Black Caps struggled to get close to the 250 or so they needed.

At this level, you can forget about winning if you don't score at least that many runs.

In the past, Nathan Astle could be relied to post big scores. The rest fell in behind.

That didn't happen this time.

Fortunately, Stephen Fleming stepped up, but he had the same problem - no back-up.

The balance of this side has gone. And, it will only get worse.

Many of this team played age- group cricket at the same time as me.



Players such as Astle, Cairns and Harris, and perhaps even Fleming, will not be around next time.

In looking for replacements, I'm not sure there is any easy answer.

Maybe we are never going to be in the top two at this level.



If the World Cup were played here we might have a better chance, but in conditions like we had in South Africa, I can't see it happening.

In many ways we are at a huge disadvantage just on the basis of population.





The lack of playing numbers makes it easy to see why we are struggling.

Out of necessity, New Zealand must make the most of limited resources.

If you look back over the past 10 to 15 years, we have done well with bowlers who got teams out, or at least contained them. We were always able to convert bowlers - such as Jacob Oram - to do the job.

It has not always worked the other way, although Astle and Mark Richardson have done well in that respect.

We have to focus on developing batsmen.

I'm not sure there is any easy answer.

Of one thing, I am sure. A critical component in all this is the lack of really good practice facilities.

It is impossible for players to improve if they are constantly being asked to practice on sub-standard pitches.

The only way to get players into good nick is to give them the opportunity to bat for one or two hours every day on a surface on which they are comfortable.

The world's best get to be that through practice. Batsmen in Australia and South Africa and, to a lesser extent, England have facilities which encourage batsmen to practice and improve their technique.

While we have had some reasonably good test results, our one-day game continues to lag some distance behind.

But we can't ever hope to follow Australia in having defined teams for both forms of the game.

Simply - and again we come back to playing numbers at all levels of the game - there are not enough cricketers to fill two teams.

In New Zealand I'm sure the best players will continue to put their hands up for test and one-day cricket.

We are scratching to find 12 talented players. Certainly, we don't have 24.

And that situation is not going to get any better.

The money in the game is helping, but we now have players with other responsibilities.

Families and careers outside cricket might mean a change in direction and with it another search.

There were some positives despite the disappointments.

Shane Bond confirmed what we have known for 18 months. He is quick and can take wickets.

As a captain Fleming got it right. I go along with his reluctance to use his "dibbly dobblies" too early.

He has the advantage of not being a "bowling captain," but he and the team needed someone like Cairns to front.

Overall, I have enjoyed much of what we have seen.

Some good cricket was played in the past week when the big kids got to play.

Sachin Tendulkar, Brett Lee and Bond were all good value.

We could have done without the distractions of the Kenyan and Zimbawean issues.

But, as we now know, that is another story.

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