Black Caps' flaws exposed

The talk was tough, but in terms of body language Black Caps coach Mark Greatbatch looked as defeated as his players last night.

Taught a lesson in test cricket by Australia again yesterday, New Zealand remain 115 runs shy of making the visitors bat again, with two days of the first test remaining at Wellington's Basin Reserve.

After being rolled for 157 yesterday morning, the Black Caps finished day three on 187 for five in their second innings, with captain Daniel Vettori not out on 18 and Brendon McCullum on four.

"He [McCullum] is a positive sort of player and obviously Dan plays positively, so we've got to be positive going into tomorrow and try and fight every ball and keep going in the test match," Greatbatch said of the planned approach.

"It's ball-by-ball tomorrow. When you're in this position you've just got to achieve little small targets and hopefully that builds into something big."

Predictable sentiments but highly unlikely to eventuate.

A couple of New Zealand players showed glimpses of ability yesterday but, having done that, they seemed almost happy to trudge back to the safety of the pavilion. The rest looked like they had been asked to participate in a contest they had neither the skill nor the appetite for.

Australia's bowlers did not do anything outrageous with the ball, and on this Basin Reserve wicket that would be difficult anyway, but they bowled it harder and with more intent than New Zealand.

Goodness knows how many days it would have taken New Zealand to bowl Australia out, had the visitors not declared during the second afternoon at 459 for five. In turn, it took them just 59.1 overs to scuttle New Zealand.

After resuming yesterday at 108 for four, they lost six for 49 in the first hour and two minutes of the day, including their last five wickets for just nine runs. Australia captain Ricky Ponting enforced the follow-on. Starting again 302 runs behind, the Black Caps did not seem quite so overawed, as Tim McIntosh and BJ Watling posted a half-century opening stand.

Although the capitulation was not so complete second time round, it came all the same as 70 for none became 136 for four and finally 187 for five at stumps.

McIntosh eventually revealed that there is a middle in his bat, before being caught at short leg by Simon Katich off Nathan Hauritz for 83.

"He's [McIntosh] that type of player," Greatbatch said.

"He focuses well, he watches each ball, he relaxes in between; it would be nice to see, for him, to have kept going but he batted for nearly five hours and if two or three other guys were doing that we'd still be well in the test match," Greatbatch said.

McIntosh's 220-ball stay was a gutsy one, but it did not conceal that he and his team-mates possess plenty of flaws.

Opinions vary about who might be capable of coming out of the domestic scene to bolster the Black Caps side for the second test in Hamilton but, by and large, the best players in the country are already here.

- © Fairfax NZ News