KEY POINTS:
Twenty minutes after New Zealand's crushing win in Hamilton, England's new chairman of selectors Geoff Miller sat alone in front of the pavilion staring across Seddon Park.
Talk about a penny for his thoughts. It had all started so promisingly with a couple of resounding Twenty20 wins in Auckland and Christchurch.
Now it is New Zealand with the momentum and a renewed confidence in their capabilities. It is England who are searching for a way out of a hole dug, to a large part, by themselves.
This is not to detract from two high-calibre performances by New Zealand - terrific fielding supporting thoughtful, demanding bowling and two batting displays which were sound and well-judged (Wellington) and eye-poppingly magnificent (Hamilton).
First England. They arrived in good spirits, having won their last two ODI series, at home to India, and away to Sri Lanka - no mean feat - shortly before Christmas. A couple of Twenty20 wins - different cricket, but still winning cricket - helped.
They badly misread the Westpac Stadium pitch, which was ideally suited to New Zealand, batted poorly and could not do the same job with the ball as had been done to them earlier in the day.
At Hamilton, Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen were sailing along at 85 for two in 15 overs when the rain came. Both teams took stock in the changing room. One got it right, the other palpably not.
The running between the wickets has been witless. Six run outs from 20 dismissals have hugely helped New Zealand, whose fielding, led by Ross Taylor and Jamie How, has been spot-on and aggressive; not to forget Brendon McCullum's one-handed catch to his right to dismiss Ian Bell first ball on Tuesday night, which was as good as you'll see.
His counterpart, Phil Mustard, dropped McCullum off a significantly easier chance first ball. McCullum figured it was his night; 80 not out off 47 balls, thank you and good night.
Other catches have spilled from English hands. The bowling, which had been highly effective in the two Twenty20s, has gone awry.
McCullum and Jesse Ryder slaughtered an attack which lost its way from the start in Hamilton. Line and length went Awol in the mayhem.
The upshot is England are now half a lap behind and the bell is sounding. They must get big-hitting allrounder Dimitri Mascarenhas back at Eden Park tomorrow. Even the New Zealanders admit as much.
"Obviously there must be reasons he's left out I'm not privy to," senior New Zealand player Jacob Oram said.
"He would have been tough to face at Wellington but also with the nature of the two pitches, if he'd got himself in and got a chance to swing away he could have been extremely dangerous. So we're pretty comfortable with him not playing, to be honest."
England opted for Ravi Bopara, harking back to their success in Sri Lanka. Loyalty is admirable, but that was then, and England have missed a trick by leaving out a damaging player who was high on confidence and in good form.
New Zealand have won their last eight ODIs at home - just three of 18 since February 2006 have been lost. They know and trust their own environment, have discovered that England freeze if the fielding squeeze is applied and have been quick to seize any openings.
They know England have players - such as Pietersen, who has twice threatened real damage before being cut short - due to fire.
"There's no way we're getting complacent," Oram added. "They've got some players who haven't fired a shot on tour and I'm sure certain guys in their team will at some stage. We just have to prolong that and keep them down as long as possible."
Oram speaks wise words. New Zealand have taken a vibrant step forward; England have received a clunking reality check, but the game is still on.
And as for Ryder, he's a happy camper, his 79 not out an emphatic statement of what he offers. Clean, muscular hitting to compare with his Hamilton innings has not been seen from a New Zealand lefthander since Mark Greatbatch in his halcyon days 15 years ago.
England tried some chat to unsettle the amiable young man.
"That's what got me going. I quite enjoyed that. It's good to have a bit of banter out there," he said. Life, right now, "is great. I'm enjoying it more than anything in the world".
As we've seen this week.
* Wellington seamer Iain O'Brien has joined the New Zealand squad for tomorrow's third ODI in place of Michael Mason, who twinged a muscle under his right arm bowling in the Hamilton win.
