Chris Rattue: Cricket win thrilling - so where to now?

The choice of David Warner as man of the match was hardly surprising considering Australian viewers. Photo / Getty Images

What an amazing few hours of cricket, and sport. The Hobart victory deserves to be celebrated long and hard, and the name of the game will be to see this as the beginning of an era that lasts a lot longer than the arc of popping champagne corks.

The New Zealand bowlers engineered two magnificent fightbacks in this game, which is all the more impressive when you consider that Doug Bracewell and Trent Boult are rookies. What a rollercoaster ride those final sessions proved to be as Bracewell swung into action and international recognition.

The heart raced as Australia came perilously close to sending New Zealand to a soul-destroying loss. The challenge system - with New Zealand dipping out twice in the final stanza - added to the drama, although the lbw tracking is not infallible on this evidence. One of those decisions should have ended the match but didn't, even though the commentators, at the time, accepted the ball had pitched outside leg stump.

Nothing is perfect, and the new system is more accurate than the old one which relied entirely on the umpires. It just needs more rigorous administration and fine tuning.

What fantastic, compelling, nerve-jangling viewing. Ross Taylor said he "nearly had a heart attack", and he wasn't the only one.

As critics claim, cricket gets media favours beyond its true place in New Zealand, and the game is something of an acquired taste. If you have the taste, though, there is nothing better than the sort of test match conclusion that occurred on Monday.

As the Australian wickets failed to tumble past nine, a sickening feeling gripped the stomach. Jubilation and relief entwined as Bracewell claimed the final wicket, although the thought that an Australian challenge might be instigated stopped that old-fashioned rush of adrenalin flowing on the final wicket. The new instincts are such that you check upstairs before giving yourself licence to holler in delight.

This rare result has launched the Taylor captaincy era, with any luck and good management. He now has the best of platforms on which to stamp his mark. The bowlers took responsibility, did the deed, cast their own shadows. The batsmen need to follow suit.

Despite New Zealand's horrific record in Australia, a victory in this series was never out of the question. This is not an outstanding New Zealand team, but they do have potential and as we saw, the bowlers can be exceptional in conditions which suit. Bracewell is the hero of the hour in a performance that will never be forgotten, but he was part of a medium-quick battery that had a fine test match individually and as a unit.

The Australian batting is shaky, some stars are fading, most of their new-ball bowlers are indeed new. New Zealand's disappointing Brisbane defeat and the history of test matches across the ditch obscured the reality. New Zealand should always have been in the hunt. Whisper this quietly, but it was also a royal chance for a second series victory over there. Hobart was as magnificent as Brisbane was disappointing.

So where to now?

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.

Putting this Australian team in its rightful place, that of a rather erratic and sub-par performer by their usual standards, will reinforce that there is still a long way to go.

The naming of David Warner as man of the match was hardly surprising when the system involved Australian viewers voting during a match they expected, for most of the time, to win. The answer here is simple - change the system back to one involving an expert or panel of them picking the winner after the game has finished. This whole interactive business is a crock of nonsense, a pathetic attempt to make the public feel more involved in something they don't need to be involved in ... not to mention pandering to the influence of a telephone company. All those silly polls during the game were a distracting cheap trick.

There was no excuse for the offhand way New Zealand was treated by television either. Mark Nicholas, the Englishman who is the commentary anchor, typified this in being obsessed by Australia's last wicket stand to the exclusion of Bracewell's performance in the post-match interviews. Mark Taylor was literally lost for initial words on the podium.

We shouldn't be stunned, though - our reaction to All Black matches is just as jingoistic, and we are not the only nation to deal with our number one sport in this way (think English soccer). The All Blacks don't lose to superior opponents - they either stuff up and beat themselves or are done in by foul deeds, including from referees. Australia's reaction to the Hobart defeat is along these lines.