End of an irritating tour

The tour of South Africa ended last night on a sour note - with the most comprehensive defeat of a reasonably balanced series and some bitter on-field antics.

It was a tour with few positives and exactly the same negative notes that we have been hearing for a while now - early wickets proving a problem at the top of the order and a bowling attack that lacks much firepower once Shane Bond's first spell comes to an end.

Hamish Marshall is one player who really does need to take a good, long look at his technique. He has had a miserable start to his summer and the number of times he is being caught behind the wicket says to me that there is something fundamental wrong with his cricket at the moment.

Unlike Richard Boock however, I don't like to dwell for too too long on the negative. And there have been some positive aspects to come from the tour. Despite our problems, and injuries to players like Scott Styris and Jake Oram, we were still largely competitive and there were real glimpses of talent from players such as Lou Vincent and Andre Adams. The form of Kyle Mills was also a big plus (who would have thought those words would ever leak from my keyboard). I think we should go into the Chappell-Hadlee series against Australia next month without too much trepidation.