NZ have a a mountain to climb

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Adam Parore says that for all of the praise we must send the way of Bangladesh, following their 4-0 ODI series win over New Zealand, there is one word which best sums up this result: embarrassing.

New Zealand's cricket reputation has been seriously dented and the game is heading for major problems in this country if the Black Caps' fortunes cannot be quickly turned around. Cricket will lose its audience and suffer commercially. Bangladesh have clearly improved but this does not explain such an incredible turnaround in fortunes for the two sides.

Writing in the same newspaper, Mark Richardson says that he did not see the same level of desperation in New Zealand that he saw in the Bangladesh players.

Do our top players desperately need to succeed any more for New Zealand? I'm not sure they do. They may want to succeed but do they need to succeed? With the distraction of the IPL and Champions League, performing on low-profile New Zealand tours is not the priority.

Simon Doull in the News says that despite the Bangladesh debacle, New Zealand Cricket have been sensible to not press the panic button. While Mark Greatbatch and captain Daniel Vettori had to front up to some tough questions for the NZC board, it was just as good to see them walk away holding on to their jobs.

What I would suggest is that the pair could do with a little bit of help in the coaching department. I would like to see someone such as former England coach Duncan Fletcher or South African batsman Kepler Wessels brought in to help. It could be something that may eventuate from the formation of the new committee charged with reviewing the systems – especially if the struggles continue in the series in India.