KEY POINTS:
Saint Jude, sorry, Jacob Oram, has no interest in making this an exciting series for fans.
New Zealand's own patron saint of lost causes didn't want to be standing on Eden Park contemplating being 2-1 up, so he is doubly certain he doesn't want to be standing on
McLean Park on Wednesday with the series tied at 2-2.
"It would have been nice to have been looking forward to 4-0, then a whitewash but it was not to be," Oram said. "We've just got to win [in Napier]. I don't really want to go to Christchurch with it 2-2 and it coming down to a one-match series."
The big left-hander rescued a dismal New Zealand top-order effort on Friday that saw his side teetering at 95-6 at one stage. He knows the spotlight will be thrown back on the top order in Napier and, while he doesn't think it's particularly fair, it's something they're prepared for.
"Friday was a bad day for us, that goes without saying, but we're coming off a 10-wicket win in the last match, we had one of those in the Bangladesh series so we've actually been going OK at the top of the order," Oram said.
"We've just got find some consistency and the boys know that. They know that 50-4, 90-6 is not good enough and we're not going to win consistently with stats like that.
"They've shown what they're capable of; they just need to do it more often."
Oram is often portrayed as the sensible head in the dressing shed and that is not without merit.
Although he confesses to his own "doubts and insecurities" he is less likely than most to be humbled by the vicissitudes of sport.
"After [Hamilton] we were soaring and today we've got to be careful not to knee-jerk and all of a sudden we're at rock bottom again," he said. "I'm pretty positive about the way we're going."
One thing the six-wicket defeat at Eden Park demonstrated without qualification was that New Zealand are still a vastly superior chasing team than they are at setting totals.
"We're just not sure how hard to push," Oram said. "Chasing we know exactly what we're doing. Four an over, five an over, six an over; you can set the pace accordingly. Most teams around the world would probably say that bar Australia who just go damn hard at everything.
"It's something we want to address but at the same time why not play to our strengths?"
No prizes for guessing what Daniel Vettori will be doing if he wins the toss on Wednesday, then.
"We've acknowledged we're a more comfortable chasing side," Vettori said in the post-match press conference.
Oram said that on top of Friday's loss, compounding matters was that some of England's batsmen had worked their way into "some nick". He'd be referring to Ian Bell (73) and Paul Collingwood (70 not out).
Neither are seen as being as dangerous as Kevin Pietersen but showed they are, like the South African, genuine matchwinners. It's a far cry from five days ago when England didn't look as if they had a clue what to do if Pietersen failed.
