KEY POINTS:
West Indian coach John Dyson yesterday said one of the reasons New Zealand will be tough opponents in their upcoming series was that "they dig deep".
The shovels were nowhere in sight as New Zealand capitulated lamely to Australia in Adelaide. When the day began, there must have been hope, on a still-good batting strip, of at least pushing the test into the final day, if not setting some sort of target.
But that would have required sound techniques, concentration, application and holding their nerve. All were missing at various stages as John Bracewell's final day as national coach ended in a shambles.
Last night, New Zealand's batsmen should have been finding somewhere to hide, so abjectly did they perform.
A precis of the two Australian tests? At Brisbane, on a pitch which encouraged the bowlers, New Zealand dismissed their hosts for 214 and 268, then failed to grasp a royal opportunity with the bat.
At Adelaide, batting first in dream conditions, Jamie How, Aaron Redmond, Jesse Ryder and Peter Fulton tossed their wickets away with shots straight out of club cricket.
All out for 270? Nowhere near enough, despite the best efforts of the bowlers, who toiled gamely throughout the series. Yesterday, the batsmen found new ways to stuff things up. The plan should have been straightforward. There was no point settling in for a two-day block-a-thon. Eventually they would be knocked over.
Chasing 230 at the start of play to make Australia bat again, there needed to be a sensible balance between taking opportunities, defending resolutely and making the bowlers come to them.
In that context, Redmond's second ball dismissal, wafting airily to point, was a disgrace; Ryder spooned a drive gently to cover point; Taylor got a leading edge back to the bowler and Fulton completely missed a ball on his off stump. Where was the hard-nosed resolve? At 84 for six, New Zealand were toast.
New Zealand's batsmen need to take a hard look at themselves. This was not a case of Australia blowing them over; this was lame capitulation.
Daniel Vettori will likely keep his own counsel, but having toiled through 60 overs in the Adelaide heat, the least the captain deserved was some spirit from his batsmen.
There is a new coach at the helm, an opening batsman for a dozen years at Warwickshire, a player who made the best of limited natural gifts. Those players are inclined to sell their wickets dearly, and take a dim view of batsmen who don't.
So what would Andy Moles have made of yesterday? At a guess, not much.
Moles starts this week. The first test against the West Indies begins in Dunedin on December 11. The good news? He's got plenty to get his teeth into.
