CRICKET: Black Caps smacked and spun out

Dhoni without fear and sympathy on his way past 100

Is the writing on the wall already?  Quite possibly, as India clobbered 360, then without much drama, dismissed us for 243.  The separation was reminiscent of an outing with a minow for India.  Even when New Zealand started well in the first 10 overs, they never looked concerned, such was the comfort their total provided.  For the Black Caps, the same old problems prevailed.  An attack without threat, and an array of shortcomings against some good spin bowling.

It started off well with the opening combination having India 44/2 after 10ish overs, Sehwag and Tendulkar back in the hutch.  Enter Gambhir & the middle order in a rebuild that would put them in a position of 216/4 after 38.  Then the real damage happened, as Dhoni unleashed himself with brutal precision on his way to a thundering hundred.  With an old, dead ball, the Black Caps were lost with where to put it, as Dhoni and later Raina found the boundary and the crowd with ease.  Attempts at variation were made to look erratic as it drastically fell to pieces at the end.  Vettori's overs were sorely missed, but in truth, his 10 alone would not have been enough to save the team from this onslaught.  What's lacking is a genuine wicket taking option.  The inclusion of Woodcock in the squad looks to now have little value.  Although his numbers make good domestically as an allrounder, he is unlikely to have cameo like opportunities in the competition to prove useful against quality players.  A more attacking spin or pace option (Nethula, McKay, Milne, Beard) could've just provided something different.  Bennett is all there is currently, and he was not afforded the opportunity in this clash, perhaps to save himself from a potential demoralising slaying, given the importance he may hold.

As for the batting, subcontinent spin was our spoil.  Ashwin, Chawla, Harbhajan and even Yuvraj all appeared to be dropping bombs at our batsmen feet.  In total, they accounted for 7 of the wickets that fell in the innings.  Considering the torment that unravelled earlier against Bangladesh and India one would've thought this would have been countered.  Based on the display it hadn't, as players fell to all forms of dismissal being bowled, LBW, caught behind and in field, and stumped.  A proactive approach, like the hiring of Mushtaq previously which had success, would've been warranted as more of the same is yet to come.

It this stage it's too late, with the World Cup to kick off in the next few days.  Luckily, our first opponent is Kenya which should get us on the board positively (dear god please).  The question will whether that will be enough to revitalise fortunes, facing tougher opposition against whom we've struggled so emphatically.