Freefalling

It was a case of no steps forward, but four giant steps back as New Zealand completed the one-day international half of their two-leg tour of South Africa in miserable fashion at the weekend. A 4-0 drubbing against a team that New Zealand genuinely feel it is at least the equal of is a big enough cross to bear, but even more unpalatable for coach John Bracewell is the suspicion that the core of players he has entrusted his 2007 World Cup campaign to are no longer good enough.

For two years now, the New Zealand cricketing public has watched on as the Test team has undergone a notable dip in its fortunes. They have grudgingly borne that in the knowledge that the one-day team was developing into one of the toughest in the world. It reached the giddy heights of No 2 on the ICC rankings, but whitewashes at home against Australia and this shellacking against a team that it had beaten at home 5-1 just 18 months ago has shaken that belief to the core.

Fresh legs might be needed but this is New Zealand, not Australia. There is no bottomless pit of eager second-tier players who have been launching a compelling case for selection. The selectors will likely turn back to Chris Cairns, who they so controversially left out of the tour to South Africa, for the Chappell-Hadlee series beginning on December 3. Chris Martin has been largely seen as a Test option only to this point, but he might come back into the one-day frame after an impressive tour with New Zealand A to Sri Lanka recently.

Two others to impress on that tour were Canterbury batsman Peter Fulton and Northern Districts' seamer Graeme Aldridge. They also impressed last domestic season. Fulton topped the aggregates in the State Championship, but was unimpressive in the one-day State Shield scoring just 148 runs in nine matches at an average of 21, figures inflated by an unbeaten 85.

Aldridge is a genuine contender. He topped the State Shield wicket tally last season and has taken 81 wickets in 51 List A matches at an average of 19.6 and a reasonable economy rate of 4.5.Other than that, the options are thin on the ground. Chris Harris has recovered from injury and will come into the frame again despite being written off more times than he'd care to remember.

Jesse Ryder, who was being described as having the talent of Martin Crowe before a couple of `lost' seasons, is showing far more discipline at and away from the crease but his selection would represent a massive punt. You could put another clean hitter, Central Districts' Ross Taylor, in that same category. Which is all a roundabout way of saying that unless South Africa was a blip then New Zealand is in big trouble. It had, with the exception of Cairns, its best cricketers in the Republic. It is a performance, rather than personnel, issue.

These guys were once good enough to give anybody a run for their money. They beat England at home in a one-day tri-series as recently as 2003. But that was then. Now, they look like a group of players who all look at their teammates to dig themselves out of holes they've created. No one wants to take responsibility to drag New Zealand to competitive totals when Stephen Fleming fails.

"We haven't given the bowlers enough runs," was Fleming's summing up of the series. "The top order batting was not consistent enough and so there was no platform... [we] lost wickets at key times." The top order has been the genesis of New Zealand's troubles and it is a top order full of luxury models. Every now and then you just need something that will get you from A to B without warranting too much attention. Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, Craig McMillan, Scott Styris and Lou Vincent are all capable of blinding brilliance but all-too-seldom in one-day cricket over the past year have they shown the stomach for the fight.

With Astle, you always know you're going to have these troughs to balance numerous peaks, but you can't expect to win more than your fair share of matches when five of your top six are prone to similar patterns. Marshall was the player Fleming and Bracewell were relying on to be their rock, their constant. His transformation from hero to zero is the most perplexing. Bracewell will be on his knees in front of the cricket gods asking that it is only a temporary loss of confidence and not the fact international bowlers have worked him out.

McMillan is the eternal enigma and Styris is showing signs of following him down that path. Vincent has a million shots for a million balls but just needs to learn to connect the right shot with the right ball. With all this in mind the Chappell-Hadlee is shaping not only as the showpiece cricket series of the New Zealand summer, but a watershed one in Bracewell's tenure. It is during these three December matches against Australia where he will learn whether he needs cosmetic changes only to his one-day side, or whether a selectorial axe is required to chop out the rot.