Adam Parore: Caution needed when blooding fresh talent

Was Ian Smith on the money with his fierce criticism of the New Zealand selectors, or did he go too far?

Smithy suggested the selectors should be dumped for failing to recognise form in domestic cricket and for not making changes to reward players who were making their mark at provincial level.

In my book he had a reasonable point, but I'd suggest from a selection standpoint they are betwixt and between, a classic rock and a hard place scenario.

On one hand, they have reasonable domestic form to go on from some players. Two who spring to mind are medium-pacers Graham Aldridge and Lance Hamilton. From what I've seen, Hamilton is useful and Aldridge might well do a reasonable job.

On the other, domestic form doesn't mean a lot, particularly when you're playing Australia. Good performances don't necessarily qualify someone to play at international level.

On that basis this is probably not the time to experiment, although I sympathise with Smithy's line of thinking - effectively he is suggesting that at 2-0 down and with a formula that is not working, it's time to have a go.

The only hitch with that approach is that if it doesn't work what do you do then? You are stuck with a couple of guys who aren't good enough and you can't just drop them after one or two games.

The selectors are being consistent and they have a process in place. Since January last year, New Zealand had lost just four games out of 23 completed ODIs - until Australia arrived here last week. They'll contend they must be doing something right.

The beating Australia dished out in Christchurch this week can happen to anyone - in fact it happened to us last time we played Australia at Jade Stadium as well. When Australia gel they are hard to stop. You have to accept that.

I would be more concerned at the manner in which we lost the opening ODI in Wellington. That was a bad miss and I'd have been looking at making changes based on what I saw that night rather than in Christchurch.

At the end of the day it matters little, because the winning of games in this series rests in the hands of our senior players - not the new boys or those currently struggling to match it with the Aussies. And remember, selection is an inexact art. As John Bracewell has correctly pointed out, it's not just a statistics game, otherwise a calculator could pick the national side.

The selection process involves a large element of gut feel for what a player brings to the team .

Michael Papps is back, partly because he's made runs in his time out of the team, but to a large degree because Bracewell and Stephen Fleming have seen something about him they like.

I fear this series may get away from us and end 5-0 to the Australians. They are on a roll and that's why the first ODI was so important. As Australia get further ahead they will relax and let their skills come to the fore. I'll guarantee they will approach today's game at Eden Park in a different frame of mind because they are 2-0 up instead of sitting at 1-1.

When the New Zealand players look at the Australians they know that, man for man, the Aussies are better than them. That's just reality and something we've learned to get our heads around.

Fortunately, ODIs are played out on the field where statistics count for nothing. The problem the Black Caps now face is that they have a few guys down on confidence. The more a player fails, the more he looks inwards. Doubts creep into his mind about his ability to compete.

From there the physical execution comes under pressure and the gap between you and your opponent, who is gaining in confidence from his success, gets wider. Here is where you sort the men from the boys - the best players, the proven internationals, have the ability to pull out big performances.

The issue then becomes whether enough of our guys can leap that gap and go toe-to-toe with the Australians. Mathew Sinclair couldn't, and that's why he's been left out. Jeff Wilson has been retained. His bowling was ordinary in Christchurch, but he wasn't alone in that.

He might be able to make that leap. He was a wonderful rugby player, so the mental demands of competing at the highest level shouldn't bother him.

At times like this you look to your senior players, in this case Fleming, Nathan Astle, Chris Cairns, Craig McMillan and Daniel Vettori. They are the ones who must stand up. If not, the next few weeks will be painful viewing.