KEY POINTS:
What a nasty, bitter little nation we can become when our sports stars lose. The most quoted example of this is the All Blacks' successive World Cup losses but last week's semifinal loss to the Sri Lankans at the cricket World Cup exposed New Zealand's ugly side again.
When did we become such a nation of knee-jerks? We lash out at those representing us at sport, becoming all that is worst in Britain and, at times, in Australia where the players are gods if they win and goddamned when they don't?
This is not to excuse the Black Caps nor make apologies for them. But some of the bile has been over the top. Most extreme, of course, was talkback radio. Those who had the misfortune to tune into the inaptly named Doug Golightly (no particular emphasis on any one syllable there) and some other bloke heard them apply words like 'disgrace' and 'gutless' and make inane comparisons between Anzac Day, Charles Upham VC and the Black Caps' lack of fight. Those who rang in to differ were ridiculed and cut off.
We were all disappointed and depressed at the loss to Sri Lanka. But get real. The Australians are light years ahead of anybody else - confirmed when they gave the South Africans a hiding not far removed from the one they gave us.
Sri Lanka have beaten New Zealand in six of their last eight one-day internationals. They are a better one-day side right now and probably the only team capable of upsetting the Australians.
New Zealand are ranked three in the world. According to seedings, a semifinal place is all that could have been expected. Go back only a few months, when the Black Caps were rotating players, making dubious selections, suffering injuries and losing everything - including their confidence. At the time I wrote: "Building confidence by losing is like training for climbing Everest by throwing yourself down a crevasse."
I also said that if coach John Bracewell managed to get the Black Caps up from where they were to being a real chance to win the World Cup, it would be the coaching feat of the year - never mind the rugby World Cup, should we win it.
They weren't all that far away. Maybe they should have done better but, again, let's get real.
This was not a perfect Black Caps side. Before their much-publicised batting problems, they had bowling troubles. The latter was there for all to see against Sri Lanka.
Many of their harshest critics trilled that the Black Caps 'shouldn't talk the talk if they can't walk the walk.' This is sheer pap and shows only that critics didn't appreciate the Black Caps were trying to hang tough mentally and approach Australia and Sri Lanka in the right mental frame, not making feeble boasts.
There's nothing wrong with a positive approach - although the downside is that, when it doesn't work, the wheels can come off very quickly indeed.
Right there is the biggest issue they face as a team. New Zealand are a bit short of mental strength.
The best way to build that strength is to feed it with the confidence of winning. But no-one wins forever and, if there is an objective criticism that can be levelled at this team, it is maybe that they lack the Allan Border factor.
Border is the man I usually nominate if I'm in the company of cricket tragics who want to debate the best batsman of all time. I hate these kind of cross-generational comparisons but, for me, if I had to nominate a batsman to play for my life, it'd be Border.
Pretty, he wasn't but he was a gutsy fighter, filled with steel, who hated to lose; who would sacrifice style and appearances to cling to a win or a draw by his bloody fingernails. He'd bite you on the nose and claw at your entrails, Border, if it meant you didn't beat him.
I don't see many Borders in the New Zealand team - Brendon McCullum and maybe Lou Vincent are as close as we get - or coming up. Nor do I see many replacements for Shane Bond or Fleming on the horizon.
That's the Black Caps' second biggest issue - do we have the players present and potential to lift a future side to a better World Cup result than 2007?
Martin Snedden's off; Bracewell might be too; Fleming is clearly nearing the end of his career as is Bond.
It could be that New Zealand cricket is entering a lean period after the latter two go. There is an uncomfortable suspicion that, in years to come, we could look back to 2007 and yearn for the days when we were ranked third or fourth in the world.
New Zealand cricket must build its mental and player strength. To fail to do so... that would be 'disgraceful'.
