shining a light 'cause they wanted it seen.

This past weekend (plus Friday and Monday) was overall a bit odd. First Ross Taylor scored an actually quite beautiful century in Bangalore, then Jade Dernbach bowled Hashim Amla at the Oval, then Kruger van Wyk scored runs, then Ravi Bopara bowled Hashim Amla at Lord's, then Craig Kieswetter remembered how to keep wicket, then Brendon McCullum clearly forgot how to keep wicket - and all of that topped off by the sinusitis from hell. Lovely.

In all seriousness though, that was quite the knock from Ross Taylor. Yes, it was about time he delivered something significant, and I'm still not sold on him (and I probably never will), but he certainly deserves credit for discovering his off-side (67 of 113 runs scored on the off-side) and more importantly for getting up after the thrashing in Hyderabad. The whole team actually deserves all the credit in the world for that, because them getting through this second Test with their heads held high was not only not a given, but also something only the eternal rose-tinted-glasses-wearers among us (yes, they still exist) would've dared to hope for.

I'm usually not the type of person to bask in the glory of having been right about something, but didn't I say after the Caribbean Adventures Tour that Trent Boult and Tim Southee should be certain starters and the remaining bowlers had to fight for the remaining places? Boult's performances, while unlucky to not pick up more wickets, in both Tests in India and Southee's staggering numbers of 7-64 in Bangalore speak their own language, don't they? It's been an overall more than commendable effort from all bowlers, and while the sentimental part of me doesn't want to see the back of neither Chris Martin nor Daniel Vettori (the bowler) just yet, I wouldn't be too upset if we were to stick with these four for the foreseeable future.

Naturally, there were still a lot of things that could've been done better, and while I appreciate the runs both Kruger van Wyk and Daniel Flynn have contributed, I still don't really understand the continued omission of BJ Watling. For starters. The batting order isn't right, but I'm annoyed at myself for continuing to moan about the opener of all openers, Brendon McCullum, so I won't even start this time around, my thoughts on that subject are well-known.

New Zealand posted a good first innings total, though probably still a bit below par given the state of the wicket, but then allowed India to score way too many middle-order runs. When you have a team at 80-4, especially after you've put a respectable total on the board, you put your foot down and bowl them out, you don't allow the 5-8 batsmen to score 252 runs between them. And with the inevitable return of the brain explosions in New Zealand's second innings, they failed to post a defendable total. Chasing down 260 on that wicket with almost six sessions to go wasn't that big a task on that wicket, and even less so with the head start the bowlers gave Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir to lay a good foundation for the incoming batsmen.

And again, maybe even the 260 could've been defended, if the Blackcaps had a captain who appears to know what he's doing and why. Sometimes he gets lucky, a decision he's made actually pays off, but surely that's not enough? His bowling changes and field settings overall are so clueless, he makes Alastair Cook look like Steve Waugh. Who allows two new batsmen to get comfortable via easy singles by failing to bring the field up, when he's only got 100 runs to work with? The bowlers struck after a rain-break right away, India lost three wickets for only 14 runs, and he allowed Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni to settle and repeat their first innings heroics.

If you lack world class players in your team, you can't also afford to carry a hapless captain along with you, just because The Blazers didn't want to give the captaincy to Brendon McCullum. All this talk about Ross Taylor needing more time and more advice and more help from McCullum ‒ no, what Taylor needs is to not be captain. It'll give him the much needed opportunity to focus on his batting, and the team is more inclined to follow McCullum anyway.

That said, they should all be very proud of their efforts. Being this pleased about a defeat by five wickets with more than a day left in the game says an awful lot about what we've grown accustomed to, especially after the disastrous outings in the West Indies and most recently in Hyderabad. But at this point it isn't really about winning, it's about adopting the right mentality, about wanting to improve, and a win here and there will come sooner or later. I can handle losing, it's part and parcel of following sports, and it seems to be the norm when following New Zealand cricket, but what I can't handle is a team capitulating and players looking like they couldn't care less, and I know I'm not alone in that. Watching them during this Test and witnessing an obvious 180° change in attitude and body language was great ‒ and all of a sudden the Test became interesting and was nowhere near as one-sided as we had to deal with in the past, who would've thought? You might be on the right path here, boys!

(Title taken from "Future Love Paradise" by Seal.)

how do you get up from an all time low?

Yes, it's come to that. I'm quoting The Wanted. I don't even know whom I'm referring to here, the Blackcaps or myself, because as horrific as their performance has been once more, I find myself weighed down by a strange mix of rage and apathy, which shouldn't even be possible.

Losing the first Test didn't come as a surprise to me (nor to all semi-realistic cricket viewers and Blackcaps supporters), and to be honest, neither did losing the first Test by an innings and 115 runs. The tour of the West Indies had been pretty close to catastrophic, and with Wright's departure and Hesson's arrival and no warming-up period, you would have to have been beyond deluded to expect a positive outcome from said first Test and the tour as a whole.

Of course, there were some positives again. I was again very impressed with Trent Boult's bowling, Kane Williamson at l(e)ast showed some grit and some determination in (parts of) his both innings and got to 50 once, and someone managed to shame/bully/whip Brendon McCullum into not batting like a complete idiot in the second innings (unlike the magnificent ugliness he delivered in the first innings), but is that enough? Can you build a team, a team culture, around two or three tiny rays of lights per match? Surely not.

"You have to have self-responsibility and be accountable for your actions in the middle. You just can’t come off [after being dismissed] and wave it away with phrases like ‘that’s the way I play’ and ‘I didn’t quite execute’."

(John Wright, former Blackcaps headcoach)

The experienced players have to start delivering consistently and quit basking in the questionable glory of each having played a more or less memorable innings a year or two ago, acting like their contribution to New Zealand cricket is complete already. Not one member of this current Blackcaps team nor the fringe players genuinely lack talent, they are all capable of playing cricket, some even a bit better than the average domestic cricketer. But they're lacking in attitude, application and certainly in the necessary ability to self-assess and improve.
 
Instead of talking turkey for once and calling the entire team out for what was again an embarrassing performance, the Test itself has thrown quite convenient excuses New Zealand's way. There's DRS to cry for, lack of warm-up games to blame, supporters who clearly have misunderstood the concept of 'support'  and who go on and on and on about that call against McCullum and talk up Team India's performance ‒ which wasn't all that. They played well(ish), but nothing about their efforts justified yet another capitulation like this, not even remotely.

If this had been a limited overs game, and New Zealand had been chasing and ended up losing by 20 runs (and I'm being very generous here), I'd understand the moaning a bit more and probably even join in the chorus. But this was a Test match in which the Blackcaps had been forced to follow on, and when McCullum was dismissed, New Zealand were 98-2 and still trailing by 181 runs. I accept that his dismissal gave India momentum, no doubt about it, but realistically speaking, how many more runs would McCullum have made until the next inevitable brain fart? And would these runs have made a difference in the end? Hardly.

Being inferior to your opponent is one thing and surely something New Zealand cricketers should be used to for generations now, but even with that in mind, I'd expect a team to at least get the basics straight, especially after the near-apocalyptic experience that was the West Indies tour. The basics that don't have anything to do with a small talent pool or no warm-up games ‒ energetic fielding, held catches, no fishing after deliveries as wide as the Grand Canyon and no sweeping. India most certainly still would've won, but at least New Zealand would've saved face and prevented to look like either incapable or disinterested hobby cricketers.

But maybe all of this could've been dealt with if the Blackcaps weren't stuck with a captain who rather speaks of the advantages of Rahul Dravid's and VVS Laxman's absence, who wants us to believe that a few more days at home are as good a preparation for a subcontinental tour as warm-up matches, with West Indian and Indian conditions being very similar anyway (because the Blackcaps were so on top of their game in the Caribbean), and who sweats his insecurity over the close relationship between Mike Hesson and Brendon McCullum out of every pore ‒ instead of focusing on selecting the right squad, picking the right playing XI (though congratulations on picking Boult, I didn't expect that), applying the right tactics and maybe even bothering to perform a bit better himself too, both with the bat and in the slip cordon.

And you know what the saddest part is? I feel like I have written this blog post before.

*****

 
PS: Dear Mike, I know it's tough being Mike Hesson and all, and I don't blame you for anything that's happened in that first Test, I actually pity you, but please stay out of the third/match umpires' box in the future, it's unbecoming of a grown man. Thanks in advance. Love, me.

(Title taken from "All Time Low" by The Wanted.)