KEY POINTS:
Picture the queue outside the hotel door of team psychologist Gary Hermansson over the next couple of days as the New Zealand players try to come to terms with their abject performance against Australia.
Hermannson, who replaced Gilbert Enoka at the start of last season, might not yet have to hypnotise the players or play secret tape recordings while they sleep, but he admits to having some work to do before Wednesday's semifinal.
Pace bowlers Michael Mason, Mark Gillespie and James Franklin are likely to require the most attention after their gumboot-hurling impressions on Saturday, and it wouldn't be a surprise if a couple of the batsmen also need therapy.
Ross Taylor, in particular, has struggled since returning from his hamstring strain, and fell to an ill-directed pull shot off Glenn McGrath's first delivery.
Hermansson said yesterday his main challenge over the next few days would be to ensure the players dealt with the experience in a balanced manner, so they could prepare positively for the more important assignment looming.
"It's important that they don't go away thinking that the performance against Australia is a fair representation of where they are in this tournament," he said. "They can't afford to see that as being indicative of their ability."
Hermansson said he felt the team were in good form on the morning of the game but was concerned to see them become more and more edgy as the day progressed, and make uncharacteristic mistakes under pressure.
He believed part of the sorry performance could possibly be put down to the different forces working on the two rival teams as they approached the showdown.
"Australia had some things they clearly wanted to put right, and you could see that almost from the off," he said.
"They wanted to make amends for what happened in New Zealand, and they wanted to stay unbeaten," he said.
"That's not to say our guys didn't have similar goals; they wanted to take as much as possible from the game and they're extremely disappointed that they allowed the opportunity to pretty much pass them by."
But Hermansson said there would be no problem making sure the players were fired up for the semifinal against Sri Lanka; in fact the problem would be ensuring they didn't get over-hyped.
