CRICKET WORLD

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori has blamed his side's Test series defeat to Australia on being inconsistent and not taking key opportunities when they arose.

After an outstanding first day with the ball in New Zealand's 176-run loss in Hamilton in the second Test, the home side failed to match it with the bat and allowed Australia the room to move back into the match and then comprehensively win it.

Vettori knew his side needed to play extremely well each of the five days if it had wanted any chance of avoiding defeat.

"We played really well at times, but to beat Australia you have to perform over five days," he said.

"There were pockets there where we let ourselves down. Not supporting Ross Taylor in the first innings with the bat was a crucial bit because we had bowled so well to give ourselves a chance.

"We needed a sizeable lead to put pressure back on Australia and we couldn't manage that.

"Whether it's with the bat or the ball, it's how you seize those moments. And looking back on that first innings, to only get a 40-run lead was disappointing."

Although Australia managed to win both the Chappell-Hadlee one-day international series and the recent Test series, Vettori felt New Zealand had had a reasonably successful summer.

After success at the Champions Trophy in South Africa, and back-to-back series wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh, Vettori said there were still plenty of positives to be taken from the summer.

"Losing two Test matches is tough but we'll try to look at everything in isolation," he said.

"Going back to the Champions League trophy and getting to the final there was an exceptionally good effort and winning the Test series against Pakistan was good.

"For me personally, there has been some really good things but as a Test match un it we've got a lot to work on."

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has seen enough cricket in his time to know where a side is lacking, and it came as no surprise when he put New Zealand's Test frailties down to not having a genuinely fast bowler.

With New Zealand's most effective fast bowler Shane Bond retiring from Test cricket, it is an area of concern that the Kiwis will have to soon rectify.

"Ask Shane Bond to come back and play, that would be a good start," the skipper said after his team's win.

However Ponting saw some positives in the way New Zealand played and felt it could be a competitive unit in years to come.

"Most teams around the world will have at least one of those guys that can do that [bowl around 150kph], and that will generally be the guy you go to when you need to strike," he said.

"With New Zealand a lot of that striking comes back to Dan [Vettori]. I think [Tim] Southee's got the potential to become that sort of bowler so I think the more they stick with him the better he'll become.

"I know that New Zealand play the right way, and if they keep playing the way they are and keep playing positively and aggressively they'll put themselves in positions to win Test matches."