Resistance Crushed

Wellington Test Wrap-Up

Alright. So a major recovery was staged on day 4, Prince Brendon played the innings of his life - he now considers himself a specialist top order batsman - and Australia were taken to a fifth day and asked to chase down a 100-odd, which was a whole lot better than the state of things by Day 3. That coat of respectability however, pretty much vanished with Phil Hughes' wiping away of the target, and it anyway couldn't disguise what was a humiliating defeat on a couple of levels.

Firstly, the bowlers managed five wickets in all at the cost of 565 runs. The attack did give a whole new meaning to the term one-dimensional, but the idea apparently was to focus on 'accuracy' and 'putting it in the right areas'. What we got at the end of it was widespread concern at the state of NZ's bowling stocks, and an injury to Daryl Tuffey for good measure. There were helpful conditions to exploit at the start of Australia's innings, which only serves to further highlight the problem.

The batsmen let themselves down badly in the first innings through a combination of tentative play and lack of test match nous. They were up against an Aussie attack which was good, but far from the best we've seen in recent times; Doug Bollinger was ineffective in the ODIs, but he rediscovered his pace and bounce here, and the lift
he generated had the batters in real discomfort. While Ingram expectedly had a bad test, the lack of substantial contributions from Taylor and Guptill arguably hurt NZ even more. It's difficult to think back to a test in which Vettori or McCullum weren't called upon to bail out the top order.

Despite the overall bleak picture, there were a few positives. Brent Arnel had a decent debut and was the most successful of the bowlers, which admittedly isn't saying much but is just as well considering Tuffey won't be available for Hamilton. There was Baz's century, which suggests he might be turning the corner as a batsman (though his dismissal in the first innings warns against instant expectation). McIntosh and Watling enjoyed a good opening stand in the second innings, and need to be persevered with. Also, I might add, McIntosh is finally looking comfortable at the test level.

It's often pointed out that NZ players need more time than most to find their feet on the international circuit. It seems to be the case with McIntosh, who for the time being is repaying the faith shown by the selectors. I suppose that is the only way to view the performances of Watling, Guptill or Southee at the moment.