Different shades of black

It's bad luck for New Zealand's cricketers that their demise at the hands of Australia has coincided with the rebirth of the nation's icons, the All Blacks.

While Stephen Fleming's men were being hammered by the rampant Aussies, the rugby side was putting the team currently perceived as the best in the world - France - to the sword to the tune of 45-6. That meant there was only one team in the sights of the doom-and-gloom merchants ... and it wasn't the All Blacks.

The comparison between arguably the two best sports teams in the southern hemisphere - the cricketers in baggy greens and the rugby men dressed in black - could not have been more obvious.

They are both teams born and bred on fierce tradition, a quality that makes them the most feared exponents in their respective games in the world. The rugby men had lost their way for a little while but, as the French will attest, their latest road-map has them firmly back on course.

The All Blacks would do well to hand the map to their cricket brethren, because the manner of the defeats by Australia, who barely had to raise a sweat to achieve their success, leaves the Black Caps in crisis mode.

All manner of suggestion may emanate from the halls of power in the New Zealand game, but the facts are hard to deny - the Kiwis have lost their way in Test cricket. Their attention span has dipped below the three-day level. Fourth days have almost become party-time for opponents, and that is not the way the New Zealand cricket tradition has developed.

It is all about fighting hard, keeping pressure on, and taking advantage of opportunities when they come along. The New Zealanders announced that their tactic in the first Test would be to make sure they were still in the game on the fifth day, because that was when Australia were vulnerable.

Well, they made it to the fifth day at Adelaide, but it had to be admitted they were hanging on by their fingernails at the end of the fourth one, and then someone decided overnight that it was fingernail-clipping time. Australia's "vulnerability" was never tested during the series, nor did it look like being tested.

And that is the worrying concern. Whereas the All Blacks can come up with the players they need to achieve their world dominance almost at the drop of a hat, the cricketers are not so blessed.

One immediate priority may be reinforced. A few years ago, the trend was to improve the quality of pitches in New Zealand so that bowlers, especially, are encouraged to work much harder for their wickets. The facilities at New Zealand Cricket's High Performance Centre do set the trend in this regard, but too few of the top grounds in the country reflect this. The pitch at Hamilton's Westpac Park is a classic example. When the Australians toured New Zealand in 1999-2000, the pitch was likened to Brisbane's. It remained that way for another summer, when Pakistan were soundly beaten.

But since then it has fallen right away. With new groundstaff having had a full winter to work on it, there has to be hope that it can achieve its former glory. Drop-in pitches are in place at Eden Park and Jade Stadium, and they have been much more settled in recent times, although Jade Stadium wasn't on the Test programme last year.

These are at least a start, but once again there will be a question-mark over the Basin Reserve. Bowlers, for too long, have had it cushy in New Zealand and they need to be more exposed to the demands of line and length, where the advantages of class and experience was so easily exposed by Messrs McGrath, Gillespie and Kasprowicz over the last fortnight.

It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall when the reason for the non-use of Ian Butler is discussed by the powers that be. What has happened, however, only adds to the pressure on him when he does get chosen.

He will be expected to come up with the goods immediately. However, there has to be some hope that that potential he showed last summer is given a chance because at the moment he is all that New Zealand have to give some grunt to the bowling attack. There will also be some intention to have Daryl Tuffey return to bowling duties, although he faces a battle given his lack of matchplay.

In New Zealand cricket, though, there is nothing new under the sun. The lack of player-depth has been a constant problem, and nothing has changed in that regard. The coach John Bracewell, who has transformed the side's one-day performances, has a much tougher task ahead of him to work the oracle on the Test efforts.

There is not much room to manoeuvre, nor is there much time - the return bout in February looms fast, and right behind them are the "Ides of March".

There is one comfort for the New Zealanders, or at least those remaining for the Chappell-Hadlee series which starts on Sunday - they don't have to listen to the talkback callers clogging the lines of Radio Sport with their cricket theories.