More needed from a middling middle order

Losing hurts: there will have been some small satisfaction at having been key contributors to one of the more stimulating Tests of recent times, but the bad news is that New Zealand do not have much time to turn things around before the second Test starts at Headingley next week.

The New Zealanders will have been severely hurt by this defeat. It is the third time in their last five Tests that they have left the opposition with too small a target for victory, after collapsing in their own second innings. How they must have longed for another 50 or 60 runs on the final afternoon at Lord's ...

But they were short twice at the Basin Reserve earlier this year, and on both occasions they were on the losing side. The message must surely be starting to sink in. This sort of entertainment - exciting close games, but losing in the end - is not quite what the Black Caps had in mind when they wanted to improve their position in the world game.

Sure, the match at Lord's was a great cricket occasion. And the New Zealanders were treated as worthy foes. The crowds paid them their due by turning up in prolific numbers, especially on the best-attended fifth day there for ages. And they were handsomely rewarded. Mark Richardson, Chris Cairns, Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum all offered a level of performance that took the challenge to England. Their efforts deserved a better fate. And in the days before the second Test, the men who let them down, Scott Styris and Craig McMillan, will need to find whatever was missing from their performance at Lord's.

Both are capable of much better. England know that about McMillan, but they have yet to be on the receiving end of a Styris special. South Africa know about that - they suffered at Eden Park in March. However, the Styris who achieved that magnificent 170 was not the player who was so hesitant at Lord's. It's the same with McMillan: a player who batted supremely in India in October and November of last year found the going much tougher this time.

For too long, New Zealand have been guilty of creating winning positions but not hammering them home. That's an experience factor which was brilliantly demonstrated by Nasser Hussain on the grandest stage in the game. No-one could deny him his moment in the sun. It was simply an outstanding innings, and the sort of display that some top players never achieve in a lifetime. Whenever Hussain decides to retire, the DVD or videotape of that innings will succour him long into his future.

The same sort of memorabilia should be a constant reminder to the New Zealanders of what they have yet to achieve. They like breaking records, and will break many more. But until they can consistently perform in the manner Hussain demonstrated, they are doomed to be mid-table performers in the ICC's Test Championship.

Some of the side will have equated with Andrew Strauss's arrival via the school of hard knocks rather than from some flash academy. Wonderful as the finishing-school product from an academy can be, there is still something of immense appeal about the grafter who has done it the hard way. Strauss showed an appetite that should be an inspiration to young players throughout England. Mark Richardson has done the same in New Zealand. He has become indispensable. It used to be said in New Zealand, in pre-professional days, that rugby was a game for everyone, because there was a role that could be played no matter what your shape or size. Richardson has proved that the same applies to cricket, even if his tendency to use his helmet to take the shine off the ball will be worrying the insurers.

Chris Martin also showed earlier in the year that old-fashioned determination, without a passing out certificate from a cricket school of learning, can still be an attraction for selectors.

New Zealand have a week to sort out their problems in a bid to get back into the Test series. They have concerns over Jacob Oram's fitness, and whether Shane Bond is yet ready to be thrown back into the fray. But before they feature, the requirement has to be more runs from the middle-order merchants.