KEY POINTS:
You've got to wonder about the strategic nous of today's elite cricketers after recent scenes at Christchurch and, more dramatically, at the Adelaide Oval.
If ever you needed a couple of examples of why surrendering the initiative and not being pro-active is the quickest way to create problems for yourself, here they were.
First there was England's fatal decision to shut up shop against the Aussies on the final day of the second test at Adelaide, and then there was New Zealand's low-key and cautious batting yesterday morning, when they allowed Sri Lanka back into the match.
As far as the Ashes goes, I couldn't believe what I was watching as England attempted to play for a draw, becoming so passive at the batting crease that the Australians were able to attack with impunity.
All England needed to do was keep the scoreboard ticking and the game would've been out of Australia's reach. It was basic maths but they muffed the test miserably.
And neither did they seem to appreciate that, if they didn't make a priority of scoring, they risked leaving themselves in a position from where they could be beaten from almost anywhere - which is what happened.
If you're serious about winning, you've got to take the initiative and put pressure back on the opposition, if only to stop them attacking you. That's sport 101.
And neither was I terribly impressed with New Zealand's batting against Sri Lanka in the first test at Jade, particularly yesterday morning when they seemed slow out of the blocks, dangerously inert, and an attractive target for the opposition bowlers.
The problem with simply allowing the opposition to attack without fear of being punished is that they grow in confidence and become more effective, whereas the batsmen come under near-unbearable pressure and often succumb.
I couldn't help thinking about that yesterday morning as we lost four wickets for seven runs.
Sri Lanka have a few good players but their batters in particular really struggle when they come over here and I can't see much changing this time around. They're not nearly as flash away from home and they showed that on Thursday.
It's much harder for subcontinental batsmen to adjust to New Zealand conditions than it is vice-versa. Sri Lankan batsmen are set up to bat on flat tracks; their techniques are designed to make best use of the conditions they grow up in - and that's a natural development.
The problem is that whenever they come to a place like New Zealand they're exposed by the extra bounce and have to try to make some pretty significant changes to their technique, which isn't easy to do.
It's not as hard for our batsmen over there; you don't tend to get found out by flat pitches.
I wasn't overly surprised about the other big cricket issue of the week, the Pakistan Cricket Board's decision to quash the two-year suspension of Shoaib Akhtar and one-year ban on Mohammad Asif for taking banned substances.
The big shock for me was that the board even bothered going through the charade of finding the players guilty and suspending them in the first place, when just about everyone knew they'd eventually be let off.
It's an idiotic argument from the board because it's never mattered why people take the stuff; the rationale has always been that if they've got it in their body they're guilty, and that's the end of the matter.
One thing stands out in all of this, though, and that's Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer. He reportedly persuaded Shoaib and Asif to be tested by the board, rather than allowing them to walk into a World Anti-Doping Agency test at the Champions Trophy.
Woolmer keeps popping up in some funny places. A banned rebel player, he was the South African coach when Hansie Cronje was fixing matches and encouraging his team-mates to underperform; he presided over the first forfeit in the history of test cricket, and now he's been implicated, albeit indirectly, in a drugs scandal.
It's hard to get a line on Woolmer but I've always believed that if something walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it probably is a duck.
Adam Parore is a former New Zealand test and one-day wicketkeeper.
