Christchurch

I s'pose it was always predictable that we would lose on the fastest deck in the country, and I s'pose it was predictable that the Australians would target Jeff Wilson and his bowling would go for a few. So I am not too disappointed in the final result in last night's match nor in Jeff's bowling. But I am worried about our top order batting and about Darryl Tuffey's bowling. And both of these concerns seem to have a very familiar ring to them.

Darryl hasn't looked right since the end of the last New Zealand summer. He has now gone through England, Australia and the current New Zealand summer either injured or severly lacking in rhythm. Perhaps it is time to take a risk and drop him. And dropping Tuffey will be a risk because everyone below him in the pecking order is a bit of a loose cannon - Andre Adams is as changeable as the weather and Jimmy Franklin can fall to pieces if his confidence takes a knock. But rhythm and confidence are linked, and I can't see Tuffey getting one back while the other is being tonked all over the park.

The top order batting has been an issue for far too many years now. We have far too many talented batsmen who are not performing. Stephen Fleming, rather predictably, was on fire when the pressure was off but has failed twice now against Australia. And Matthew Sinclair just falls to pieces as soon as he sees a yellow shirt. Flem is capable of tightening his game up and cutting out the loose strokes, but it will be harder for Sinclair to break his phobia. He is too good a talent to throw on the scrap-heap, but maybe a game on the bench to think things through could help. If his performances do not improve then Papps and Vincent should come into the picture via their current form in domestic cricket.