Where have the gritty batsmen gone?
Of our batsmen, only Ross Taylor and Daniel Vettori have reached anywhere near the amount of consistent performance required to say they have made the Test grade, writes Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday .
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Of our batsmen, only Ross Taylor and Daniel Vettori have reached anywhere near the amount of consistent performance required to say they have made the Test grade, writes Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday.
The rest are obviously still at the first-class level or unable to make the shift from limited-overs play and, worst of all, continue to make the same technical and mental mistakes over and over again. Tim MacIntosh, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn and Peter Fulton all have massive issues with their footwork - issues so large that if they aren't ironed out they will never make the grade.
Richardson and Andrew Alderson ask more questions of New Zealand's batting in the Herald on Sunday.
So what is wrong with our batting? Why do we find test cricket so hard? In 10 completed innings this year, prior to the second test, New Zealand were dismissed for less than 300 in seven of them. Last week's second innings was the worst collapse of the lot - before the Wellington innings took the title.
A combination of technique and temperament is causing the problem. Players initially struggled to adjust to the left-arm over-the-wicket deliveries of Mohammad Aamer while opening bowling partner Mohammad Asif has kept asking questions with a tight line in and around off stump.
Another factor is the team's return from a diet of limited-overs matches where harvesting controlled runs through a vacant slip cordon suddenly presents a trap in Tests.
Poor old Shane Bond. He's a strange sportsman for whom you can quite easily feel pity and irritation at the same time. Has there ever been a New Zealand cricketer so injury-prone? Has there ever been a New Zealand sportsperson so often removed from the field of play? asks Paul Lewis in the same newspaper.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo