Cricket: Sort the bowling out New Zealand

Get the bowling right; that is the key for New Zealand in tonight's tri-series T20 final against Australia at the Mt Eden batting funpark.

Forget all the talk about Eden Park and it's sandpit boundaries. The ground's angles make it a dud for cricket, end of discussion.

The crowd loved the entertainment on Friday night, and fair play, so there you are.
But both teams have to figure out the best way to use the ground's dimensions to their advantage.

New Zealand's batting has generally been impressive, but you wonder what will happen if/when Martin Guptill and Colin Munro both misfire at the top — come to think of it, that happened at Sydney in the first transtasman clash in the series. Result: 117 for nine on an admittedly tricky pitch against quality bowling.

But it's the bowling which should have team officials twitchy.

Going for a world record 245 in 18.5 overs last Friday night was desperately poor.

Yes, there were inside edges, outside edges, fat edges which cleared the boundary on the postage stamp ground, interspersed with some terrific batting, but there was also some seriously ordinary bowling — from both teams, to be fair.

But when you win, that can get overlooked, or at least publicly played down. Not when you lose and concede 12 runs an over.

Trent Boult went for 42 off 23 balls; Tim Southee 48 off 24, Colin de Grandhomme was ploughed for 56 off 23; and poor Ben Wheeler's 19 deliveries cost 64 before he was mercifully red carded from the crease for over-doing the full tosses. They're all better than that.

Sure it's not a game for bowlers, and there are days it's no fun at all. Sure you can be collared by quality batsmen. But it's about giving yourself a chance. If it goes wrong because of the batsman's skill, so be it.

The yorker delivered well outside off, but not too wide, is a popular option these days; ditto the slow-paced bouncer. Indeed pace variations are essential; and nothing beats the traditional yorker, which can be hard to dial up at will, but these are international bowlers.

So is tonight the pinnacle occasion of this peculiar summer schedule? No.

That comes with the two tests against England which end the season, one of them the inaugural home pink ball test under lights in March.

But call this a welcome diversion.

And in case you're wondering, New Zealand Cricket aren't planning to try and repeat this little T20 tri-series next summer, despite having proved immensely popular on this side of the Tasman at least.

India are due to visit for short form games but the word is the focus will be heavily on 50-over cricket next season ahead of the World Cup in 2019.

And that also most likely means more despair for test fans.