New Zealand gained little from tri-series

New Zealand got very little out of the tri-series in Sri Lanka; all they got was knocked out in inglorious fashion, writes Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday.

It's a shame because if there was some real progress to be made, it would have been to see how good young Kane Williamson could be. His performance carried the most interest. Unfortunately we're none the wiser after he got three swinging, seaming deliveries resulting in scores of 0, 0 and 13.

The other interest was how penetrative Andy McKay would be. He bowled tidily but was far from penetrative - two wickets in three games - but, again, these were far from typical subcontinent conditions.

It was also a chance for Ross Taylor to gain more international captaincy experience but how much influence does a captain really have when match trends are so one-sided?

Also in the Herald on Sunday, Andrew Alderson says "the selectors have made the decision to play Kane Williamson in the international arena, they need to stick with him."