Photos: England v NZ, third testKEY POINTS:
One of the benefits of spending the best part of the past month in England - apart from the weather and the food, not - has been the opportunity to watch the Australians on tour in the West Indies.
Not so long ago the foremost date on the test cricketing calendar, this series is now met with the same fervoured anticipation as, say, any in-bound rugby tour in June. In keeping with its slipping status, this series has thus far served up mostly insipid cricket sprinkled with a bit of Australian magic dust and the odd glimmer of West Indian hope.
What the series has done is highlighted three incontrovertible truths.
Truth number one: The slower the International Cricket Council is to embrace technology the faster they risk alienating fans.
On day four of the dull second test at the shiny, new Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, Brett Lee and umpire Russell Tiffin combined to produce the astonishing feat of three wickets in four balls, none of which were actually out. Dwayne Bravo was given out caught down the leg side off his thigh-pad and Denesh Ramdin and Darren Sammy were adjudged lbw despite being hit well outside off-stump while in the process of playing a shot.
Later in the day Andrew Symonds was given not out when he clearly gloved one down the leg side and, finally, the West Indies got a couple of square-ups when Brad Haddin was fired lbw to a poor shout and Lee himself was given out caught behind when the ball brushed his forearm.
Last March, the ICC board approved a trial for an umpire review system that would allow players to ask the on-field umpire to review any aspect of a decision, other than line, in consultation with the third umpire. Each team would be limited to a maximum of three unsuccessful referrals in an innings.
The ICC's cricket committee, comprising eminent former players along with umpires and media representatives, endorsed the proposal at its meeting early last month.
Right, so everybody that matters agrees it's a good idea, we have the technology, so let's get it started now.
There's a compelling reason for doing it that has rarely been mentioned. Forget the embarrassment of umpires for a minute, and the irritation of wronged batsmen and bowlers. The best reason for bringing in technology is it will make world cricket more even and therefore engage the sort of spectators that seem to have disappeared from Antigua. Because it has become blatantly obvious that the balance of the wrong decisions always, always favour the perceived stronger team.
Even in the second test in England that New Zealand managed to find a way to lose, the result could have been different if Monty Panesar wasn't gifted Brendon McCullum's wicket (terrible shot but it still wasn't out) and Daniel Vettori wasn't denied Paul Collingwood's on the final afternoon. And this in a series where the umpiring has been, until Trent Bridge at least, very good.
Truth number two: Australia are ripe for the taking.
You could mount a convincing argument that South Africa are a better test side than Australia now but it would be useless and hypothetical until they meet home and away in the next couple of years.
But if there were a test between the two sides next week on neutral territory the sensible punter might look past Australia's fearsome reputation. Without Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer, Australia look vulnerable.
They're still very good, obviously. You don't carry a team with Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke and Matthew Hayden in it and be discounted. Stuart Clark and Andrew Symonds are more than handy, too, but that cloak of invincibility, seldom removed in the past 19 years, is now missing.
Brad Haddin is no Gilchrist. In fact he's no McCullum or Mark Boucher either. Phil Jaques is interesting but vulnerable and when Hayden went down before the Windies series which brilliant youngster did they have to call on? That would be the 32-year-old Simon Katich.
Their spin bowling looks weak, as is South Africa's, but behind Lee and the ultra-consistent Clark, there doesn't appear a whole lot of pace bowling talent. Certainly nothing to compare with Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel.
Interesting times.
Truth number three: the West Indies are still paying the price for the World Cup fiasco.
Talk to New Zealand manager Lindsay Crocker and he'll tell you the appalling World Cup last year was worth it if only for the reason that it brought the infrastructure in the West Indies up to speed with the rest of the world and, in some cases, past it.
That, however, will only count if they can re-engage the public. The Antigua Recreation Ground in St Johns might have been a ramshackle affair but it crackled with energy and was usually full. The Sir Viv Richards Stadium has looked forlorn by comparison, despite being state of the art.
Five miles from St Johns, few have the means or the motivation to make the journey, even for a test against the world champions.
It didn't help that the ground was built on an old watercourse so that any rain means inevitable delays of several hours, not minutes.
It is hoped that one day these new stadiums sprinkled around the Caribbean will bring benefit but at the moment they only serve to highlight how low cricket is in the once-proud Windies.
Actually, there's a fourth truth to emerge from this series but it would require a lot more space to do it justice. Shivnarine Chanderpaul might be one of the most painful cricketers on earth to watch, but he really is a remarkable batsman.
