KEY POINTS:
New Zealand yesterday chose to steer clear of a slanging match over what exactly constitutes an apology over the Glovegate row, which has ignited passions ahead of tomorrow's second Chappell Hadlee series ODI in Melbourne.
However, privately they are angry that Australian captain Ricky Ponting has claimed rival skipper Dan Vettori apologised to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin after their contretemps over an incident in the opening ODI in Perth. New Zealand firmly believe they have nothing to apologise for.
Haddin's gloves bumped off the bails illegally before New Zealand batsman Neil Broom was incorrectly given out bowled at a crucial point in the match, ultimately won on the final ball by the New Zealanders.
Vettori was unimpressed with Haddin's body language at the time of the incident - "I think you saw from Haddin's reaction that he knew something was wrong so he probably should have made more noise about it", he said after the match.
The next day Vettori said his had been "a subjective analysis of the situation. There was no intentions of casting aspersions on his character."
He later sent Haddin a text, which Ponting described in part yesterday as an apology.
"I honestly think Brad has done nothing wrong," Ponting said yesterday. "It was interesting getting off the plane here the other day, he got an apology via text message from Daniel."
That had the New Zealanders muttering darkly over the choice of description from the Australian skipper.
"There was an interchange of texts between Haddin and Dan and it's fair to say they agreed to disagree on the incident," New Zealand manager Lindsay Crocker said last night.
"There was nothing personal and we're moving on."
There is a feeling Ponting is trying to claim the higher ground, that Vettori's text somehow translates into a moral victory for Australia.
Right now, any sort of win will do for an Australian team under the pump after losing four successive ODI internationals.
Crocker said the players had not dwelt on the incident and it's aftermath, but he appreciated the amount of public and media interest in it has given it legs well beyond the final ball in Perth last Sunday.
"Sport is full of these intrigues but when you've played a match, of necessity you move on," he said.
"You pretty quickly start preparing for the next one. Commentators and the public only have the last match to chew over until the next one, but it certainly hasn't impacted on our preparation for Friday's match."
In New Zealand's case their preparations for tomorrow's second ODI at the Melbourne Cricket Ground are focused more on on-field matters, primarily their batting which, setting aside the final thrilling outcome, was patchy in Perth.
They might consider introducing Craig Cumming at No 3 and moving Peter Fulton to No 5 in place of Grant Elliott.
Cumming is a natural top-order batsman; Fulton might be more at home lower down after his 35-ball seven in Perth. But Elliott offers handy backup medium pace bowling if things get sticky in the field, especially with the other part-time option, Jesse Ryder, ruled out of the series by injury.
Michael Clarke will captain Australia tomorrow and again on Sunday at Sydney, Ponting having been ordered to take a break to freshen up.
Clarke yesterday described the idea of losing the series as "unthinkable".
"At this stage it is," he said. "It's the last thing I'm certainly thinking about. I don't think we're too far away from turning the series around if we get a couple of things right."
They would certainly include an injection of brainpower into some witless batting in Perth.
