Get runs on the board

Every Thursday, Wisden Cricinfo's writers in Australia and New Zealand supply the Antipodean view on cricket. Here Lynn McConnell nails the reason why New Zealand lose so many close matches:

Last-over finishes still occur quite regularly in the world of one-day internationals, but increasingly, when they involve New Zealand, the Black Caps seem to be on the losing end of them. The two-wicket defeat to Australia off the penultimate ball in the TVS Cup in India on Monday highlighted again how much the New Zealanders still have to learn about the one-day game.

Knowing how to win in tight situations is an art, and the more often you are in that position, the more often you should be able to win. That's because this is a situation where the old hoary line about learning from defeats really should apply. It is possible to practise as many times as you like in these situations - but until the blowtorch of pressure from what the NZ master batsman Glenn Turner used to call "outside influences" is applied, just what the response will be is uncertain.

Training by rote, in field situations, is more applicable to football, either with a round or an oval ball. This is where the physical response to pressure is put to the test. Cricket is a little different, because the battle is a constant, it takes place on the same 22 yards of ground - and so it is the mental response that becomes the key.

Because New Zealand has had but a nodding acquaintance with close finishes in its recent history, the exposure to the requirements of tight games has not been as great as for most of the other sides. The problem is that while NZ have always had the potential to knock off some of the better teams, they have generally failed to develop the consistency of a top-notch one-day side.

There are several examples of this failing. The fact that NZ have won only two international tournaments in the 30-odd years of ODI history - and both of those in the last three years - demonstrates an inability to achieve consistency of success. Invariably, the high point of a fine victory has been followed by the low point of an unbelievable performance in the next outing.

We saw that the last time NZ played in the annual tri-series in Australia, in the summer of 2000-01. They managed to deny the Aussies a place in the finals of their own tournament, which was very satisfying. But then they went down twice to South Africa. It is an indictment of New Zealand's play that on the five occasions they have reached the finals of that series, they have won only one match - the very first one back in 1980-81, on the back of 5 for 26 from Richard Hadlee.

More recently, at this year's World Cup, they had Australia on the ropes at 84 for 7, yet were unable to deliver the killer blow. Australian sides, at all levels, have an inborn ability to thrive in tight situations: but New Zealand have lost the skill in kicking a sucker while he's down.

As a result, New Zealand's winning percentage in all ODIs is a sorry 42.68 - this from a side capable of beating any other team on its day. Of the other Test nations only Zimbabwe (27.46) and Bangladesh (3.89) have a worse percentage. And the longer the situation remains the same, the harder it will be to improve the numbers.

Any number of excuses can be trotted out. The bowling at the death has been one. The batting at the death has been another. There are signs of improvement, though, from the likes of Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond.

But the real issue is the lack of consistent runs from the top order. In NZ's first two matches in the TVS Cup, the top order failed. It was a consistent pattern during the World Cup too. New Zealand's best batsmen have to score much more consistently if that win-lose percentage is to change significantly for the better. Because it's quite simple: one-day cricket is a batsman's game. The bottom line is all about hitting fours and sixes.

There was a time, in the earlier days of the one-day game, that New Zealand consistently came through in tight situations. While the acrimonious Test series against the West Indies in 1979-80 is often trotted out as the start of the marvellous home decade of the '80s, the real beginning was the one-day match at the start of that series, when New Zealand pulled off a marvellous victory in a close finish.

It was in the white-hot, rarefied atmosphere of that first Australian tri-series, played out in primetime television for the first time on our screens in 1980-81, that New Zealand won some other close games, with Geoff Howarth's captaincy receiving all sorts of plaudits.

Similarly, the eternal memory of the second tri-series in 1982-83, was a close finish against England when Martin Snedden, who's now at the helm of New Zealand Cricket, celebrated a last-ball dismissal by leaping over the batsman's broken wicket, arm raised in triumph.

In the marvellous campaign of the 1992 World Cup, New Zealand came through in all but their last match, the tight semi-final with Pakistan. That was probably the beginning of the long sequence that continues now.

The hope has to be that continued exposure can only reinforce the requirements of how to perform under pressure. But - and it is a significant but - that can only happen when the runs are put on the board by the top order. In all those matches where NZ triumphed in close finishes, there were runs on the board. It is a much easier game to play, and control, when that's the case.

Lynn McConnell is New Zealand editor of Wisden Cricinfo.