Cricket: Ponting's words of comfort to battered NZ

From left, Michael Clarke, Captain Ricky Ponting and Ryan Harris with the test series trophy. Photo / Christine Cornege

As they digested their second straight hefty defeat to Australia yesterday, New Zealand received some encouraging words from an unlikely source.

Ricky Ponting might not immediately appeal as a bloke to give an opponent a comforting arm around the shoulder, but the Australian captain was magnanimous after his team had wiped out New Zealand by 176 runs with over two sessions to spare at Seddon Park yesterday.

Australia swept the test series 2-0, rounding off a summer of seven wins and a draw from eight matches.

They remain formidably good, and even if some of the names might not have the resonance of three years ago, players such as Ponting - albeit out of sorts and luck in New Zealand - Michael Clarke, Simon Katich, Mike Hussey, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson provide a hard, stable core.

So when Ponting was asked what he made of New Zealand, who spent two days of even stevens battling before it became boys against men, he paused a moment before coming up with a positive message.

How to get more penetration in the bowling? "Ask Shane Bond to come back and play," he quipped of the retired test speedster.

"There's no doubt they've got some very good international players. You know what you're going to get with New Zealand, you always get a good fight and if they keep playing that way they'll keep producing good cricketers."

Stick with Tim Southee and Martin Guptill, he added. The lack of genuine speed meant the onus went back on the batsmen.

"They've got to stand up and put runs on the board all the time and give the bowlers something to work at.

"I know New Zealand play the right way and if they keep trying to take their game forward and being positive and aggressive they'll get themselves into positions to win test matches."

It remains a work in progress, and New Zealand didn't get enough consistently out of their best players over the two tests, senior new ball bowler Chris Martin being a prime case in point.

His return of one for 260 from the tests, in an attack shorn of Bond and Iain O'Brien earlier in the summer, suggested strongly the end of the road was looming for the 35-year-old.

"I hope people don't write his obituary just yet," Vettori, a fierce defender of Martin, said yesterday. "I know he is determined to play for a while longer. He's not pleased with his performance in this test and, hopefully, that makes him hungry to get better and stronger for next season."

The final rites yesterday came after some conscientious batting and half centuries from Guptill and Brendon McCullum in a stand of 87 before the new ball arrived.

Southee had some fun at Doug Bollinger's expense, before Johnson wrapped things up, finishing with a man-of-the-match 10 for 132. The last five wickets went for 117 yesterday.

"It was similar to the Basin Reserve [first test]," Vettori said.

"We played well at times but to beat Australia you have to play well for all five days. There were some pockets where we let ourselves down."

And that has a too-familiar ring to it.

Attention turns to the Indian Premier League for Vettori, McCullum and Ross Taylor, with a brief break and preparations for the world Twenty20 for others.

It has been a depressing end to the summer, which started with a thrilling final-day late-afternoon win over Pakistan in Dunedin back on November 28.

But, perhaps not surprising, the gulf between the transtasman neighbours, at least in the longest form, remains substantial.