Day Four

So after three days of holding firm, New Zealand fumbled to a miserable loss on the fourth. It was an ending as sad as it was predictable. Andrew McLean has a nice summary on Cricinfo in which he outlines the ruthless of the brilliant Australian attack - but we should also look at the way the New Zealanders played. There were seven LBWs, the result of poor footwork stemming from a lack of confidence and a lack of a plan. The side knows what it needs to do in the first innings of a test, but a run of failures means that its primary aim in the second innings is to not get out - particularly when playing against Australia. They weren't trying to set up a total for the Australians to chase yesterday, they weren't trying to bat out the match - they were simply trying to hold up the Australian juggernaut. And that is the wrong way to go about things. We don't necessarily need to send the side to a psychologist, but we do need to get them focussing on their own technique and their own game.