Mark Richardson: Not up to the test

Once again we will be relying on our ODI team to salvage respect from a tour. Well, at least we have a competitive ODI team.

But if English cricket's desires to reduce the 50-over game to 40 overs is the catalyst for the demise of ODIs, and let's not forget it wasn't until county cricket picked up on the very shortest form of the game and ran with it that the Twenty20 revolution began, and the result is a cricketing landscape dominated by tests and T20, then our current situation is even more dire.

You just have to view the cutaway shots of Daniel Vettori in the stand when another wicket falls in inglorious fashion to see his displeasure of what is continuing to happen over and over again with our batting in the test cricket game. We simply are not good enough and potential fails to be realised.

The annoying thing about this test series is the great Muttiah Muralitharan has not been the architect of our demise. In reality, we have self destructed.

There has been plenty of effort made in preparation for this tour, especially in how to combat the threat of Murali and Ajantha Mendis and for the most part I feel they have played them both relatively well but too many cheap wickets have fallen to capable, but not world-class, bowlers at the other end.

Arguably Murali's mates may have prospered because of his threat but if that is the case it shows a lack of mental strength.

Vettori had regularly singled out the batting as the major problem and fair enough. Records make for dire reading of late and a lack of runs will always lose a test.

But this series has once more exposed a lack of penetration in the bowling attack.

I know it has been a hard ask to come straight out of our winter and into Sri Lankan conditions and, granted, there have been health issues. Yet has it got so drastic that we celebrate restricting a team to less than 500 by rolling the tail?