Where to now for New Zealand?
"This rare result has launched the [Ross] Taylor captaincy era, with any luck and good management
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
"This rare result has launched the [Ross] Taylor captaincy era, with any luck and good management. He now has the best of platforms on which to stamp his mark," writes Chris Rattue in the New Zealand Herald. "The bowlers took responsibility, did the deed, cast their own shadows. The batsmen need to follow suit."
This historic win, achieved without Daniel Vettori, might enable his teammates to lift themselves out of the shadow the former captain inadvertently casts over them.
Vettori's heroics, especially with the bat, are legendary but they have not turned his team or Taylor's into a winning one. His bowling, for all of its delicate arts, does not seem to win test matches either. The Vettori formula has tended to involve rearguard actions and a battle for respectability which has - as the test rankings show - by and large failed. For whatever reason, New Zealand has been lulled into an over-reliance on Vettori, who for all of his excellence does not have Richard Hadlee's superman capabilities. This is not to denigrate a magnificent cricketer, but the load needs to be spread better.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo