Cricket: Black Caps need to play to a new tune

Daniel Vettori apologised for sounding like a "broken record" but it is his batsmen who should really face the music after New Zealand's wretched cricket tour of Sri Lanka closed with another ignominious defeat at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

India eliminated New Zealand from the one-day Tri-Series yesterday by six wickets with almost 10 overs in reserve as they became the first team in 12 matches to win batting second at the venue.

The fact India were chasing a moderate 155 aided their cause, after New Zealand's top order undid Vettori's good work by winning what should have been a critical toss.

India only arrived in the country on Wednesday and promptly lost opener Gautam Gambhir to injury. Virender Sehwag was missing, too, and they had not played an ODI since July in the West Indies.

Instead, it was New Zealand that were ripe for the picking.

It was arguably their worst batting performance of the tour and condemned them to stew on another heavy defeat before they fly to South Africa for the Champions Trophy on Tuesday.

A glum Vettori trotted out a familiar line after witnessing another excruciating performance from his strokemakers on a slow surface they should have handled better after a month of acclimatising.

Ultimately, the captain top scored with a paltry 25; he also took two for 33 from 10 overs but a typically impressive allround contribution was never going to deny an Indian side still boasting the quality of Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Tendulkar and Dravid added 60 for the second wicket while Dhoni and Suresh Raina coasted India across the line at 156 for four in 40.3 overs with an unbroken stand of 72.

Both Indian partnerships dwarfed New Zealand's best effort - Jacob Oram and Neil Broom's 35 for the sixth wicket.

New Zealand could point to the tougher conditions and the psychological impact of batting under lights when folding for 119 against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

They had no excuses yesterday for slumping to four for two in a heartbeat and then 19 for three with the sun on their backs.

Invigorated by their two Twenty20 successes after predictably losing the tests to Sri Lanka 0-2, New Zealand had approached the Tri-Series with a degree of confidence.

However, Vettori and coach Andy Moles now face the prospect of New Zealand's ODI ranking of four deteriorating in South Africa after senior batsmen and rookies on their first tour of the Subcontinent flopped in unison.

"I know I sound like a broken record but we just didn't put scores together, we didn't bat as well as we could have," Vettori said.

"We always put ourselves under pressure with the bat. We just couldn't put those partnerships together - we couldn't get someone to get a 70 or 80 not out to put pressure on the other team."

Grant Elliott's 41 against Sri Lanka was New Zealand's highest individual innings of the tournament; Oram's 45-ball stay for 24 the longest innings managed against the Indians.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, could point to Thilan Samaraweera's sublime 104 guiding them out of trouble at 38 for four, the kind of innings Vettori envied.

"The way he batted and the way Raina and Dhoni did ... they were really smart about it. They did the simple things on a difficult wicket," he said.

"There are some positives," Vettori said, highlighting Shane Bond "getting through with no injuries."

- NZPA