Shane Bond's injury has really highlighted something about New Zealand cricket's bowling depth - we just don't have any.
People have been questioning a lot of things about the Black Caps on their tour of South Africa, wondering whether the batsmen are up to it or whether Stephen Fleming is a disruptive influence as a former captain.
That would be an easy one to point to but from where I'm sitting, I don't believe it's the answer.
It really comes down to the fact our batsmen would be fairly happy facing the New Zealand bowling attack at the moment. We face international, top-class, world-quality bowling on a regular basis but we haven't got anything like a world-class bowling attack.
The way Steyn and Ntini bowled at us during the test series was aggressive, with bounce, whereas our guys ran in and bowled a cut above medium pace, trying to put it in the right areas.
It's not enough these days. We're almost bowling to a plan of trying not to get hit.
Look at the Aussies - they're aggressive and at you and making things happen.
Then again, the Australians aren't bringing in teenagers - they're bringing in 24-27-year-old guys who are hardened first-class cricketers. They've generally bowled under all conditions and on all surfaces and they've had some success before they're thrown in the deep end.
We're always looking for the next Richard Hadlee or the next Glen Turner and we'll keep trying until we find one. That's always going to cause imbalances.
We still lack penetration. I wasn't the most penetrative bowler in the world - I moved the ball and had a change of pace - but that was OK in one-day cricket. What you're seeing now are the Nathan Brackens and Stuart Clarks that can muscle up and take the pace off in the shortened version but they're also very good test bowlers as well.
We've had so much one-day cricket leading up to the world cup that when we stepped up to the higher level of test cricket with its higher intensity, we've been found wanting.
There also doesn't seem to be much cheer in the Kiwi camp - I guess it's hard to be cheerful when you're on the end of a hiding every time you walk out.
Every time they cross over the boundary line as a batsman or bowler and they're not scoring any runs or taking any wickets, it's pretty hard to turn it around.
It's frustrating but as a cricketing nation we're in a downer.
The good news is that fitness and form is the major contributor to that at the moment and it only takes a swashbuckling Twenty20 innings or a couple of great catches and all of a sudden there could be a bit of feeling in the camp.
That could turn things around in time for the one-dayers, but someone needs to stick their hand up and stick it up pretty quick.
PRINGLE'S POINT: Popgun attack the reason we're not firing
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