Familiar woes for New Zealand

New Zealand were flogged in their opening game against South Africa because of a lack of vim in their cricket and boldness in their selection, writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald. Vettori should have come up the order after Oram pulled out and Jeetan Patel should have been included.

Things went wrong for New Zealand even before a ball was bowled at Centurion yesterday. The young South African woman singing the national anthems got through the trickier first half reasonably well. Then she came to the final line: "God Save New Ze-ee-land." Daniel Vettori, standing at the head of the New Zealand line, had a quiet smile. As things transpired, not even He - God, not Dan - could have helped out as New Zealand tumbled in grimly familiar fashion against the hosts.