Cricket: Vettori's men simply not good enough

There can be no grumbles about being unlucky; no ifs and buts.

New Zealand are out of the world T20 because they weren't good enough to make the semifinals. End of.

Having seen Pakistan upset expectations by toppling South Africa with a rousing display in yesterday's first game, New Zealand had to follow suit, take a leaf from Shahid Afridi's erratic but inspired men.

They needed to be at their best against a confident England in their final Super Eight game. They weren't, and it was a familiar grim tale of batting inadequacy.

Once again that aspect was simply not up to scratch. Making 149 for seven on a slowish but decent St Lucia pitch was short of what New Zealand needed, but it was defendable if the bowlers were right on the job.

Unfortunately Nathan McCullum chose a wrong day to have his poorest day at the tournament, Kyle Mills was way off the mark and Ian Butler, after his man of the match winning effort against Pakistan, got just one expensive over.

England won with five balls to spare, but it was not that close. In Eion Morgan they have perhaps the most inventive batsman at the championship.

Their latest South African-born recruits, openers Mike Lumb and Craig Kieswetter, have given them brisk starts and they have bowled and fielded tidily throughout.

"To only get 150 put us up against it," New Zealand captain Dan Vettori said afterwards. "Then not being able to break through the Morgan-[Tim] Bresnan partnership till late on was a real killer for us."

Morgan and burly Bresnan, man of the match for a tidy allround double, put on 24 in 15 balls to put England on the brink of victory.

But more important was the fifth wicket stand of 52 in 6.2 overs by the dexterous Irishman Morgan and allrounder Luke Wright, which moved England from a dicey 66 for four to 118 for five.

New Zealand couldn't match those contributions, the only stand of note a decent one of 62 between Ross Taylor - his only innings to speak of in the championship - and Scott Styris.

There was an easily-identifiable theme for New Zealand throughout the event. The bowlers generally did well enough; the batsmen were well below par.

So much of New Zealand's thrust had to come from the top four. Vettori repeatedly stressed the importance of Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill and Taylor. They scored respectively 94 (five innings), 93 (five), 45 (four) and 75 (four). That is unacceptable, set alongside other leading batsmen in the Caribbean right now.

One small snippet. In the first six overs, when powerplay fielding restrictions were in place, excluding the one-sided Zimbabwe game, New Zealand managed 40 (Sri Lanka), 39 (South Africa), 41 (Pakistan) and 39 (England).

But England, by contrast, managed 60, 45, 65 and 57 in the same periods against West Indies, Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand.

In the end, the most unlikely of all the semifinal scenarios played out in St Lucia yesterday. Pakistan, thought down and out, got up to finish second to England to advance.

South Africa folded meekly as Pakistan roared, once more stumbling when the heat went on, maintaining their well-earned reputation as centre stage flops.

As they went out to start their innings, New Zealand knew the score. Calculators weren't required. Effectively it was win and you're in.

New Zealand now have a few days off relaxing in the Florida sun before three T20 games against Sri Lanka to kick off New Zealand Cricket's relationship with their United States counterparts, starting on May 20.

"We'll look back with a lot of disappointment. It will leave a bit of a bad taste for all the guys," Vettori said.

So high hopes dashed once again. Heard that before too. At least they won't need to look far for the reasons why.