Test cricket is dying in New Zealand, but a brilliant clash against Australia will be a marvellous tonic says Chris Rattue.
The Black Caps should not only be steeling themselves for the two-test series against Australia, but sharpening the knives.
The events of this week from Sydney, where a raw Pakistani side would have been crushed by Australian teams past, have only re-enforced that Australia is vulnerable like almost never before.
As the Aussie legend Ricky Ponting fended miserably at the fast bowling, the tragedy of injury-prone Shane Bond's early retirement from test cricket was re-emphasised, along with the belief that more inspired and innovative leadership in keeping with the times was needed to prevent our greatest fast bowler after Richard Hadlee from zipping off just yet to protect his Indian riches. Bond's test departure remains absolutely infuriating.
If this is the predicted age of free-lancing, then why couldn't a deal have been arranged to keep Bond in the test arena long enough to do some serious lancing of the Aussie batters.
The year is young yet 2010 has already revealed something remarkable - an Aussie cricket outfit not only short on the usual talent, but one where their continued attempts at a swagger can now be met with a smile.
The Aussie arrogance, the utter belief in their superiority, is there to be knocked. A young Pakistani team of some outrageous ability but erratic experience have not even pushed beyond the core of their talent to rise from a first test defeat and put Australia in a predicament unimaginable in the days of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and many brilliant companions.
A tougher Pakistan, of a Javed Miandad mentality, would have had this Australian team for toast by now.
No wonder English players are daring to dream out loud that they could win an Ashes series in Australia.
With every cheap Aussie wicket to fall, or every flash of a Pakistani blade, you could only lament that our speed demon Bond, in particular, and the vastly improved Iain O'Brien, will not be there to ram home the possibilities in the March test series. Bond's early retirement ranks as maybe the most disappointing moment in many years of New Zealand cricket.
Yet even without Bond, a series victory should still not be out of the question for New Zealand, in home conditions.
The quality of the Australian stocks has fallen but you also wonder whether the new-age scrutiny of umpires has taken a little advantage away from the Ockers, who for many years were able to get dubious decisions at vital times through the power of their forceful personalities.
Australia are struggling to find their mojo.
Who could have reckoned on the day when an Australian team failed to mount a legitimate appeal as happened on Monday when Peter Siddle, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and the slip cordon - including captain Ponting - failed to ask the question of the umpire, after which the hot spot machine showed that Faisal Iqbal had nicked the Siddle delivery.
Even Bill Lawry went up in the commentary box - although he always does when Australia are in the hunt for a wicket - and yet in the middle, the former sharks of world cricket couldn't even throw out an inquiring line. Stunning.
Ponting, whose decision to bat first on a tricky pitch has also faced scrutiny, is struggling to recapture past glories and this uncertainty will easily filter through his side.
The Australian batting lineup relies so heavily on Ponting for old-fashioned determination, yet the captain is clearly distracted by his own vulnerability after being struck by a short delivery.
Around Ponting are some younger players from a generation who believe that the world is their oyster, right now. They may have been overly influenced by extraordinary shot makers led by Gilchrist, but they are not in that rare class.
Shane Watson, an allrounder now stationed at the top of the order, should have his technique sorely tested in New Zealand conditions. No longer does a stupendous opening Aussie pair stand, fully armed, at the gate.
Different times, different strokes. There is, you are inclined to think, more commercial gain in flashy strokeplay than hard-fought innings when the man with the biggest chequebook is an Indian Twenty20 impresario. The Twenty20 influence will infiltrate the techniques of test players which will also prove a leveller, allowing the five-day fortunes to have more in common with the one-day lottery. (Some of New Zealand's test batsmen down the years displayed Twenty20 concentration levels long before the game was invented.)
The series which starts late next month is shaping as a terrific duel, and one that New Zealand must go into believing they can win after years of suffering at the hands of Aussie greats.
But oh for Bond, the pace man who has sadly retired from test cricket. For a start, he would have been our bowler most able to trouble Ponting.
I read the other day that Bond had been "forced" to retire through injuries. Rather than being forced, Bond has taken the financially wise decision to forsake the strains of test cricket so he can fill his boots in his remaining playing days. Is there any way, you wonder, that Bond could be repaired and encouraged to return, for one last test burst?
Test cricket is dying in this land, and a brilliant clash against Australia will be a marvellous tonic, while accepting there is no full cure.
If, as in cricket, you were allowed to challenge sporting decisions until two unsuccessful ones occurred, then my appeals for 2010 would start with a plea that Bond change his mind. This is so desirable that it would be worth the likely result of an appeal wasted.
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Troubled lives make for the best of stories. For good holiday viewing, try the documentary films Tyson and Maradona. Mike Tyson and Diego Maradona are among the most fascinating sporting personalities of our times.
Both documentaries have their weaknesses. Maradona is an erratic beast and trampled on by way too much English punk music, the repetitive playing of his "Goal of the Century" and the enigmatic presentation style of filmmaker Emir Kusturica. Like the man himself though, the film has a good heart, and provides a fascinating insight into Maradona's thinking and life. You can't help but be left with a giant soft spot for Maradona, while wondering how the heck - despite his God-like status - Argentina allowed him to take control, to use the term loosely, of their World Cup hopes.
If Maradona is in a good space, he may be okay in South Africa, but Maradona is not always in a good space. Tyson uses a format which doesn't ignore any of the major controversies, but doesn't allow any searching questioning either. You are left with a sympathetic view of a man who has abused and been abused, and - like many boxers before him - lacked the maturity and good will of others to survive the world his damaging fists thrust him into.
Tyson and Maradona live dysfunctional lives, a far cry from the controlled environment of Tiger Woods, who is unlikely to let the cameras into his world, let alone his heart, to such an extent. More is the pity.
