KEY POINTS:
Nathan Astle's decision to retire is a courageous move from the man who has been the backbone of New Zealand's one-day batting for as long as anyone can remember.
Undoubtedly our best ODI batsman, his 16 centuries are more than the total number of 100s New Zealand batsmen had scored prior to his arrival in the side in 1995!
That said, the time is right for him to move on - age never looks kindly on batsmen, especially those of Astle's type. He is a classic example of a player who relies on good hands to supplement limited footwork and as he has got older his reflexes have waned. The manner of his recent dismissals prove it.
I suspect deep down Nathan knew he was coming to the end and the carrot of hanging on to the World Cup had lost its lustre in light of his recent struggles. He is to be commended for stepping aside now and allowing the side time to adjust to his absence.
But it does make things somewhat murky at the top of the order.
Without sounding like a broken record, they need to get Brendon McCullum back up the order into the spot he should never have vacated, tell him he is there until after the World Cup, and let him get on with it.
Let's hope the Black Caps' victory over England this week doesn't obscure the absolute necessity for an innovative approach to beat Australia.
The win in Adelaide deserves polite applause but really, the Poms are nothing more than a county selection.
Unless Andy Flintoff fires, they have no chance.
The Black Caps' aim must still be to challenge Australia and to do this they need a new direction.
It seems they have yet to grasp this, based on recent comments, and are going to turn up with the same old, predictable game plan.
Australia are a team honed on pressure cricket from their excellent state competition. Unless you shake them out of their comfort zone, they will win virtually every time.
New Zealand have succeeded through innovation in the past - an obvious example was the use of finger spinner Dipak Patel as an opening bowler in the 1992 World Cup when we knocked over Australia and topped the round robin points table.
In 2002, people scoffed when we bowled short and wide to Damien Martyn. But we knocked Australia out of its own tournament and Stephen Fleming has to employ the innovative methods he was so good at in the past.
Fleming doesn't need to come up with a golden bullet when we talk about innovation - it's about doing a lot of things slightly differently.
That will be enough to change the shape of the game and make the Aussies think on their feet.
When they are trying to work it out as they go they are vulnerable - we all are.
I would like to see New Zealand develop a plan aimed at only one thing - beating Australia on the day, in the World Cup final. The key to this is that it only needs to work once.
We have the players to beat everyone else, using a disciplined and traditional approach, but as our current record against the Aussies is two from 20 we need to start afresh. Anything should be considered, as long as it forces the Aussies outside their current game plans. Simple things that work well are:
* Encouraging the batters to use their feet more to upset the rhythm of the Australian bowlers. It's easy to implement and it will at least make their bowlers think about their length and often earns a bad ball.
* Experiment with Jeetan Patel opening the bowling - you can always revert to tradition if it doesn't work out and you won't be more than 15 runs worse off. Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden wouldn't be too thrilled about trying to hit the slow bowler over the top in the early stages.
* Develop plans for each individual which play on perceived weaknesses. * Use bowlers in one-over spell rotations.
* Implement death bowling tactics in the middle of the innings.
* Bring Shane Bond on every time Ricky Ponting walks out to bat. Do the same with Michael Clarke and bounce him.
These things get inside players' heads and make them think and at that stage we are in the game.
We need to create an environment of uncertainty for the Aussies to play in. They hate it!
Adam Parore played 78 tests and 179 ODIs for New Zealand
