Cricket: Black Caps must find a game of two quality halves

Daniel Vettori's team face an uphill battle in today's ODI. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand will get out of their ODI trough at some point.

Just as it's certain Christmas is coming, so too New Zealand's embattled one-day squad will one day arrest their losing run, which now stands at eight, all on the sub-continent.

The difference is we know what date the rotund chap in red squeezes down the chimney; right now who knows when the cricketers will remember what a win feels like.

It might even happen today in the third game of their five-match series against India in Vadodara, formerly Baroda, although the momentum is all one way, and rather like trying to stop a large rock rolling down a hill.

If so, three players will be particularly relieved.

Offspinner Nathan McCullum, new ball bowler Kyle Mills and senior batsman Ross Taylor are the only players to have appeared in all eight beatings, suffered against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.

Having been seen off by 40 runs in the opening game in Guwahati last weekend, New Zealand were flogged by eight wickets in Jaipur on Thursday.

On a slow, low pitch, they didn't get enough runs, 258 for eight, but at least it was something to work with.

Unfortunately, the bowlers collectively served up a buffet to India's batsmen, of whom little lefthand opener Gautam Gambhir didn't need a second invitation to fill his plate, speeding to an unbeaten 138 at far better than run-a-ball rate. There were seven overs unbowled. Translation: this was a flogging.

How to get out of a hole which becomes deeper with each game? Martin Guptill, whose 70 was New Zealand's top score and represented a return to form after a lean period, keeps his recipe simple.

"It is hard [to keep the spirits up], but the guys know what they need to do for the next games and that's all we're focusing on," he said yesterday.

A decision on whether Brendon McCullum's back strain has recovered sufficiently for him to make his first appearance in the series today will be left until this morning.

Allrounder James Franklin should get his turn today. Not that Franklin is necessarily going to cut a swathe through an Indian top order possessing heavy artillery, even without the resting Sachin Tendulkar and Virendar Sehwag. But he deserves an opportunity, especially with World Cup selection in mind.

New Zealand's problem is putting together two decent quality halves - batting and bowling - within the same seven-hour period.

They can still win this series, theoretically, but by turn they are not getting enough runs, then putting in a good enough shift with the ball. One won't work without the other.

India have decided to rest middle order batsman Suresh Raina and fast bowler Shankutharam Sreesanth, who took seven wickets in the first two ODIs. That's the good news for New Zealand; the flipside is Zaheer Khan, the country's senior new ball operator, is returning today.

There have been 12 ODIs in Vadodara. India have won eight of their 11 appearances.

New Zealand have been there three times, getting beaten by a cracking 65-ball Mohammad Azharuddin century in 1988; losing on a road of a pitch six years later - Ken Rutherford's 108 and Adam Parore's boundary-less 96 not being enough as India eased to 271 for three - before beating the Netherlands in the 1996 World Cup.

In those days it was the grandly named India Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd Sports Complex Ground. The name has changed, now it's the Reliance Stadium, but New Zealand's task today hasn't got any easier for that.

India v New Zealand
Third ODI, Vadodara, 4.30pm today

India: Gautam Gambhir (c), Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravi Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Vinay Kumar.

New Zealand: (from) Dan Vettori (c), Jamie How, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Grant Elliott, James Franklin, Gareth Hopkins, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Andy McKay