KEY POINTS:
New Zealand are hinting at rearranging the deckchairs, er - that is, the batting order, for tonight's must-win one-day international against Sri Lanka, although details of the plan will be kept on hold until this afternoon.
Having made an art form of chopping and changing their combination all
summer, the New Zealand management will apparently have one last throw of the dice in the series decider at Seddon Park, in the hope of striking some much-needed paydirt.
The suggestion is that either skipper and incumbent opening batsman Stephen Fleming or veteran opener Nathan Astle will slip down a few places to shore up a middle-order that proved utterly clueless during Saturday night's extermination.
Fleming, who next week leads his side into the much more intense environment of a tri-series campaign in Australia, would not elaborate on the latest scheme but agreed the absence of Scott Styris and Jacob Oram created an argument for more seniority in the middle-order.
"That's a fair assessment," he said. "We've got some pretty strong ideas. I'm not going to share them with you now - I've got to make sure I sign them off in the proper way.
"But we've got some strong ideas about how it's going to work and have had for some time. We'll see how they go and reassess after the match."
The New Zealand skipper has been the centre of attention after being rested for the first three one-dayers in the name of squad development and returning to compile a five-ball duck in the weekend's rout, sparking a collapse of Abbotsford-like proportions.
He said the side had not tried to hide from the fallout of the performance and they would begin today's contest with the horror story still in the back of their minds.
Some might say there was a need to purge the mind but Fleming insisted that if the contest meant enough, there was no getting away from a setback as severe as the 189-run Eden Park loss.
"I don't think you can completely clear your head after such an awful performance; I think you've got to carry over some of the residue to make sure you get it right the next chance you get and, luckily for us, we've only had to wait a couple of days," he said.
Asked if he'd introduced anything specific into the preparation to deal with the crisis, Fleming said his job had been relatively straightforward.
"We travelled down with Radio Sport playing, which gave us an idea of the depth of public feeling and that was motivation enough. I think the guys feel it when they go out in public, it was that bad.
"My main role has been trying to channel the negative energy into something positive."
The silver lining to this week's events was his team still had an opportunity to win the series and head to Australia with a 3-2 result against a team playing outstanding one-day cricket.
New Zealand were ambushed by Sanath Jayasuriya in the first and fourth ODIs, but managed to scramble to unconvincing wins at Queenstown and Christchurch, the latter against a line-up that was missing Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga.
New Zealand seem unlikely to regain the services of the injured James Franklin, but are hopeful Daniel Vettori will return.
Sri Lanka are expected to retain most of the line-up that steamrolled New Zealand at Eden Park although the tour selectors may give Malinga Banadara his first run of the tour.
NZ V SRI LANKA
Fifth ODI
Hamilton, 2pm start
New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (c), Daniel Vettori, Andre Adams, Nathan Astle, Peter Fulton, Mark Gillespie, Hamish Marshall, Craig McMillan, Michael Mason, Brendon McCullum, Jeetan Patel, Ross Taylor, Shane Bond, James Franklin.
Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (c), Marvan Atapattu, Malinga Bandara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dilhara Fernando, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chamara Kapugedera, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ruchira Perera, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Upal Tharanga, Chaminda Vaas.
