Black Caps performed an epic meltdown

New Zealand have received a lot of well-earned praise for the way they have approached and played their cricket over the past two years, so it is only right to recognise the Lord's test for what it was: an epic meltdown.

When there are just five sessions left in the match and England is thinking only of surviving with a draw but somehow wins the test four sessions later, it can only be described as thus.

Given that they haven't lost a test series since the last time they were in England, you have to believe it was a one-off but there were enough signs in the way they went about their business on day four in particular that hubris rather than a fundamental failure of skill might be their biggest enemy.

Captain Brendon McCullum, the beating heart of the Black Caps' renaissance, has said that there will be "no kneejerk reaction". That's a wise statement. Kneejerk reactions gives rise to boom and mainly bust patterns of performance, but at the same time you hope there is some serious analysis of the way they went about their work after they had England on the ropes in the session before lunch on the fourth day.

This was no Muhammad Ali rope-a-dope performance by England either. They weren't initially interested in luring New Zealand into a false sense of security, of waiting for them to punch themselves out. They were focused only on weaving and avoiding the knockout blow.

When they achieved that, through the magnificent Alastair Cook and Joe Root, New Zealand, and senior bowler Tim Southee in particular, kept throwing the bowling equivalent of haymakers and Ben Stokes counterpunched them out of the game. The short-pitch tactic against the flame-haired allrounder made little sense when he came into this test averaging just 28 and the only previous exceptional innings in his 10-test career had come on the ultra-bouncy Waca ground.

Brendon McCullum leaves the pitch after being bowled by England's Ben Stokes. Photo / AP

Surely good line and length bowling on a wicket that still gave hope to bowlers was the prudent option. Even on the fifth morning, when maidens were the key to halting England's push for victory, Southee was sending down half-trackers at barely above medium pace.

You have to question, too, the decision to move BJ Watling up the order and McCullum down. The captain's batting has been all thunder and lightning of late but he's not that far removed from a triple century, an innings that will rank among New Zealand's great back-to-the-wall knocks. The justification that they were waiting for a second wave of attack once Watling and the unflappable Kane Williamson steadied the ship, seemed a reach given the history of run chases at Lord's.

In truth, this decision had little bearing on the outcome and Watling did everything asked of him, but it does give pause for thought: Is there room for positive dissent in the camp now? This is McCullum and coach Mike Hesson's team and it is moulded in their image.

So far that's worked, for the most part, wonderfully well. But even Lennon & McCartney needed George Martin to tell them when they were wrong.

In that respect, the loss of Shane Bond might turn out to be greater than imagined. Bond was his own man, too much so at times his critics might say. It's difficult to imagine Bond being happy with a bowling plan like the one executed on the fourth afternoon.

Who now tells Hesson and McCullum when they're wrong?

This is a talented team, a young team and one that has won the public back on their side with the way they play and respect the game. Playing half a bad test should not alter that.

But when McCullum says, "I thought we played our part in a tremendous test match," someone in the touring party needs to be brave enough to say, "Yes, the wrong part."