Wasted on the way

Whatever you might say of New Zealand's bowling resources at the test level, they generally do their bit in restricting the opposition and creating the chance to push for victory. It's been a recurring theme for a while now; the bowlers do the hard work, but the batsmen simply don't capitalise and let slip the opportunity. It was this all too familiar story of disappointment which we saw at the Gabba.

The juicy Gabba wicket, which traditionally offers bounce and movement early on but flattens out very quickly, was as close to a kiwi December greentop as the visitors could hope to find. For this reason, the Black Caps will travel to Adelaide knowing they squandered their best chance of a win against top flight opposition in a long time. The flatter, almost subcontinent-like Adelaide Oval wicket probably represents their best chance of a draw. But then playing for the draw is the surest way of being rolled over by an Australian team.

NZ had a lot going for them in this test. The helpful wicket, an inpsired selection in Tim Southee ahead of Kyle Mills (who, ironically, might have been a handful on this wicket himself), and an Australian lineup chastened by their Indian debacle. I'm sure if you told Daniel Vettori before the game that the Aussies would score 214 and 268 in the 1st and 3rd innings, he'd have gladly taken it. Full marks to the bowlers then, even though they struggled to dislodge the tail enders in both innings. They'll find it a lot harder in Adelaide, but the knowledge that they can bowl out this kind of lineup twice is in itself a big plus. Trouble is, the batting is so ragged that even when the universe conspires to bring all these helpful factors into the game in NZ's favour, they fall well short. The bowlers' effort on the first day was definitely one to savour; perhaps the thought of seeing an Aussie side getting well and truly kicked when they were down gave me some unrealistic hopes for the rest of the game. I guess we'll have to wait till the one dayers to savour a win.

There's not much one can say about the batting. I guess the folly of selecting Grant Elliott for this test has been well documented, but having been dead against it at the start of the test I'm actually going to stick up for the guy. He sees himself as a batsman, not as an allrounder filling in for Jacob Oram. From his recent first class record and a couple of innings in the one day series earlier in England, he seems to possess a reasonably compact technique and a good temperament. He was, however, undone by some classic Aussie-applied pressure in both innings and it would be unfortunate if the fans single him out to blame. I understand Vettori has a lot of faith in him so he probably won't be discarded right away, but replacing him with Peter Fulton for Adelaide would be the right move. I've been a fan of two-meter right from his first major series against the Lankans in 2005 and have always felt Braces ought to have shaped his test career right away. His inclusion, as I said earlier, would enable the likes of Taylor and McCullum to move one place lower in the order, something they would be pretty comfortable with.

We need around three Daniel Flynns in the lineup, basically anyone with the bloody-mindedness to bat by the session. If Mark Richardson was able to rebuild his first class career with that sort of attitude, surely it cannot be beyond one of the top five. Jamie How looks the most likely to be that sort of player, but has the habit of getting unstuck by a good ball or an expansive drive. He's had a run of low scores of late so perhaps Adelaide is where he decides to turn it around. Some of the guys, notably Ross Taylor and Daniel Flynn, have been crying out for the top order to pull their weight and contribute that much needed century. I pick Jamie How as the one to do that at Adelaide, but more on the basis of desperately wanting him to succeed than any reflection of his present form.