Cricket: Where have the gritty batsmen gone?

The Black Caps' top-order displays, including those of Daniel Flynn and Tim McIntosh, have been below par in the series with Pakistan. Photo / Getty Images

If you peered into the murky depths of last week's final-day cricket test triumph over Pakistan in Dunedin, some disturbing batting behaviour from the top order was evident - and that 12-tonne chicken came home to roost in the first innings in Wellington.

Some might consider that uncharitable, considering the first test victory and the fact this is a test team on the improve, no matter the woeful procession at the Basin Reserve.

However, Ross Taylor aside, there are a number of factors to keep fans from a state of euphoria when the top six strap on their pads. Both innings at the University Oval saw first drop Daniel Flynn striding out to the wicket in the first over.

Despite scoring 429 in the first innings, three batsmen in the top six (Tim McIntosh, Flynn and Grant Elliott) floundered in single figures.

In the second dig, when there was no handy support from Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori, there were three ducks (Martin Guptill, Flynn and Peter Fulton) among the same six batsmen which saw the team in the shed for 153 in one of New Zealand's infamous second innings collapses.

New Zealand's first innings of 99 in Wellington made it two collapses in a row.

So what is wrong with our batting? Why do we find test cricket so hard? In 10 completed innings this year, prior to the second test, New Zealand were dismissed for less than 300 in seven of them.

Last week's second innings was the worst collapse of the lot - before the Wellington innings took the title.

The pattern was repeated at the Basin - albeit in the first innings this time, with New Zealand all out for 99 with five ducks (Guptill, Fulton, McCullum, Iain O'Brien and Chris Martin - though he was 0 not out).

Of the top six, only Flynn (29), Taylor (30) and Elliott (20) managed to get into double figures, with McIntosh again dismissed cheaply to help put the batting order below under familiar pressure. McIntosh and Guptill were out for small returns again yesterday, with Flynn struggling to 20.

A combination of technique and temperament is causing the problem. Players initially struggled to adjust to the left-arm over-the-wicket deliveries of Mohammad Aamer while opening bowling partner Mohammad Asif has kept asking questions with a tight line in and around off stump.

Another factor is the team's return from a diet of limited-overs matches where harvesting controlled runs through a vacant slip cordon suddenly presents a trap in tests.

Former New Zealand opener Bruce Edgar, renowned for his grit against some of best attacks in the world in the late 1970s and early 1980s, says the first area he'd practice is judging deliveries just outside the off stump.

"All left-handers have had to face that for years from stock-standard right-armers bowling over the wicket across you. There's always a chance you're going to be nicked out with the angles and if they're bowling with six men behind the wicket there's obviously a plan.

"You have to work hard at knowing where your stumps are and knowing whether the ball will hit. Ideally you want them to bowl at you. In a test, if you let it go, it generally won't help them.

"As a result they might bowl a bit shorter, so you cut it, then if they pitch it up you can work it off your legs. I look at Mark Richardson as a good example of a Black Cap who knew his game perfectly and stuck to it. He basically said to bowlers I'm not going to play the way you think I should play. Then, more often than not, they ended up bowling to his strengths."

Edgar may have only averaged just over 30 in his 39 tests but scored test centuries against some of the most ferocious modern-day attacks boasting names like Garner, Holding, Lillee and Thomson.

He found visualisation a useful technique: "I recall rehearsing a game successfully against Australia, Before the match I had envisaged who was bowling at me, the conditions, the fields they'd set and who was in each position. You need that same dedication today because video analysis means teams know what weaknesses to bowl at and how to get you out."

Another player renowned for his tenacity with the bat for New Zealand was former captain Bevan Congdon.

Two such examples were his 175 at Lord's on the 1973 England tour and his 176 earlier at Trent Bridge after being struck on the cheek early on by England pace bowler John Snow.

Congdon laments the Black Caps' current inability to bat long periods in tests, particularly in the second innings.

"You just have to look at some of the dismissals in the first test. We're not prepared to play defensive shots until the opposition bowlers lose concentration or try something different. The players are quite entrepreneurial with their shots, but their task is to score plenty of runs. Techniques were different during my era. A lot of the time it was about getting out of harm's way.

"In today's world, strapping on an armguard and a helmet encourages them to play more shots. It's like they almost feel duty bound."

What also concerns Congdon is the chopping and changing in the international schedule between tests and limited overs, which has resulted in too many pre-determined shots.

"You look silly if the ball doesn't come along in the right direction, like the reverse sweep, the flick over the top of the slips and the paddle down to fine leg. If you're not sure a shot is under total control then there's an exponential chance you'll get out. Where the difficulties come in is that players don't use good enough judgment and that's hard to coach."

Edgar says players are failing to exercise enough subtlety, particularly in the shorter form.

"I see many players who can hit the ball hard. It's sort of a testosterone thing. But you've got to know how to play the ball with soft hands, too. Singles are as much a part of the game as boundaries.

"The analogy I give is that if you go to a golf driving range, you see all these blokes trying to belt the ball 300 yards. Rarely do you see anyone playing for touch and feel, just chipping it 60-70 yards. I say, 'yes, you've just belted the crap out of it but what about creating some confusion for the fieldsmen?'

"Having spent my life at point and in the covers with the ball whizzing past, it makes you give yourself a bit of room. Then there's nothing worse than someone dropping the ball in front of you and taking the single."

Edgar's been doing plenty of club coaching of late from his base in Sydney with St George and Parramatta, but has no ambitions to rise through the ranks back home.

He's even taken to doing a batting programme in Brisbane with Greg Chappell, a signal that anything can change in the world of cricket.

Edgar was the batsman stranded on 102 not out at the MCG when Chappell instructed brother Trevor to bowl the infamous underarm delivery at Brian McKechnie with six needed to tie the legendary one-day match of 1981.