A Bridge Too Far

It's a pity the Black Caps saved their most limp performance in the Champions Trophy for the final, although magnificent bowling from Shane Bond and Kyle Mills gave them a chance of defending a paltry 200. Daniel Vettori's injury on the eve of the match was perhaps the straw that finally broke the back of an outfit which had to cope with injuries to several key players already. the batting never looked like recovering from the early loss of Brendon McCullum, though In was personally disappointed with Neil Broom's silly run out; Broom had done well to see off a testing spell from Brett Lee, and looked to be finally on his way to a substantial score.

Full credit to Australia, whose less heralded performers continue to step up during big games without any fuss. Though I personally never rated Shane Watson, Nathan Hauritz and Peter Siddle, each of them put in stellar performances when it really mattered. If that passage of play where Hauritz prised out three NZ wickets in the middle after Lee and Siddle had been seen off was hard to stomach for kiwi fans, Watson positively rubbed our noses in the dirt with those two sixes to finish the game - a distinctive Aussie touch.

The main gains for NZ from their South African sojourn are their restored confidence as a one-day outfit capable of competing with the best, and the emergence of some reasonable player depth following the run of injuries. The final, however, was a grim reminder that the team cannot really do without its first choice XI if they are to be in the same ballpark as Australia and South Africa.