KEY POINTS:
It says something about New Zealand's batting when the No 11 can claim the biggest milestone of the second test and the No 8 can dominate the series averages.
But that was the woeful tale from the Basin Reserve yesterday after New Zealand crashed to a 217-run defeat against Sri Lanka, courtesy of some brilliant spin bowling and a batting line-up about as reliable as an Auckland bus.
Bowled out before tea for a battling 286, New Zealand never regained the initiative after being routed for 130 on the second day and were forced to share the two-match series 1-1, despite a superb all-round performance from Daniel Vettori.
The left-arm spinner took a match haul of 10 wickets for the second occasion and then defied the Sri Lankans for the best part of two hours yesterday as he struck his second half-century of the series. No other New Zealander reached the milestone in either test.
Together with James Franklin, Vettori added 96 for the eighth wicket, in the process boosting his series average to 38.00, comfortably clear of Craig Cumming's 29.75 or wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum's 24.66.
In fact, the top-order batting was so bad that the brightest moments yesterday probably arrived when Chris Martin raised his career total of runs past 50, an exercise that took just 33 tests and 44 innings.
But when Franklin became the last wicket to fall for a spirited 44, New Zealand were left surveying another test series in which their batting deficiencies undermined all of the good work provided by their bowlers and fieldsmen.
A sobering point is that none of the New Zealand top-order were able to pass 50 in four innings; the Sorry Six struggling to pick up the trajectory of Lasith Malinga or read the wrong-'un of Muttiah Muralitharan - who yesterday ended with six for 87, and match figures of 10 for 118.
Skipper Stephen Fleming last night called for calm on the run-scoring problems, claiming the difficulties experienced by his batsmen had more to do with the unique delivery styles of Malinga and Muralitharan than the issue of competence.
He said the idea of bringing in a specialist batting coach to iron out the problems raised as many questions as it answered.
"I think there are enough batting experts around," he said. "Martin Crowe has always provided some expert opinion and talked to two or three guys during the test.
"But it's a bit risky looking to one person, because there are guys who work with their own domestic coaches; there's the Glenn Turners and there's the guys down at the Academy.
"You have to be very careful who you turn to. You can't just pick one guy to deliver all the knowledge because everyone's different, we all play in different ways."
Fleming said the batting problems were exacerbated by the difficulties experienced when facing the two Ms, and reasoned that his batsmen had looked reasonably comfortable against the relatively conventional Chaminda Vaas and Farveez Maharoof.
However, he conceded that at times his players could not even sight Malinga's 150km/h round-arm deliveries and that no one could read Muralitharan's wrong-'un.
"I don't think it was a lack of application," he said. "If you look at some of the dismissals it was just that people weren't seeing the ball at one end, and didn't know which way it was going to turn at the other.
"The problem was coming to grips with Malinga, who at times was impossible to pick up, and one of the greatest spinners ever to play the game.
"With those two, our guys never felt in. There was always a period when one of them would come back and take a wicket and expose us."
