The morning's play brought 81 runs and no wickets from just 29 overs of negative stuff from New Zealand and precious little that was positive from England. The afternoon's play, which ran into tea until England were bowled out, yielded 74 runs and four wickets from further indifferent stuff from New Zealand and near numbing intent from England.
There appeared to be no anxiety in the cricket, rather that an appointment had been made with the tea interval. As if to prove the point Lee Germon, a smart enough tactician, set an ultracautious field from the off and Dominic Cork, an entertaining batsman, took an age for his fifty.
Neither side could trust themselves to break from the shackles of insecurity and risk losing the advantage in order to gain it. In Test cricket a player must make choices, must dictate the game and win it over, which is the natural inclination of both Germon and Cork. But this age of one-day cricket has tended to stifle invention and initiative because the one-day game does the dictating and by doing so asks fewer questions of the players, who become less interesting to watch. England's dull, though admittedly pragmatic tactic was at least justified by its end, which brought a healthy lead and should be redeemed by victory today. Nor will it have done Cork any harm to show he can play cricket of responsibility as well as of adventure.
New Zealand's feeble tactics -sort of sit back and wait to see what England get up to -betrayed the lack of confidence in their bowlers and signalled to England the limit of their ambition. After Graham Thorpe, who played a most accomplished innings, and Cork there was only the flimsy tail but Germon could not bring himself to go and chase it, lest Thorpe or Cork got away from him while he tried. So for much of this national holiday rigor mortis set in.
GERMON has a problem with his bowlers, who are ordinary at best. Danny Morrison's skidding swingers rely on the strength of a young man but Morrison is in his testimonial year. Simon Doull's wobbling medium pacers rely on an opponent's indiscretion, so stalemates like yesterday will not work for him. Chris Cairns has power but not patience - he is an enigmatic, frustrating bowler rather in the way of Chris Lewis - and Justin Vaughan is a trundler who would scarcely shine in a minor counties match.
Only Dipak Patel bowled with class, which surprised New Zealand observers every bit as much as England, by drifting his offbreaks away from the right-handers and spinning them back to the off stump. His nagging length confused England, who were betwixt and between in their efforts to challenge him and who must find a way against spin if they are serious about coping with Shane Warne and Michael Bevan in the summer.
The New Zealand selectors have some bowling options which they must turn to now before the series has shot by them. On Sunday night in a televised limited overs match Geoff Allott, a fast left-armer from Canterbury, hit the stumps with yorkers and thundered plenty from a good length into the retreating wicketkeeper's gloves. Allott played two Tests against Zimbabwe last year but was discarded in favour of the experienced Morrison, a conservative selection which has failed. Allott is to play for New Zealand A against England later this week and, with the unknown as a key weapon, it is thought he is most likely to upset England's comfortable-looking batsmen.
Most likely of all to upset England is a wrist spinner and New Zealand have Gregg Loveridge -a chap the selectors do not entirely trust. He is a leg-spinner advised by Kerry O'Keefe and who has benefited from both the New Zealand and Australian cricket academies. Loveridge has been plagued by an absurd assortment of injuries which have restricted his experience and frustrated the selectors, who are well aware of England's Achilles heel and who are keen to include Loveridge's natural, if unharnessed, ability to exploit it.
Without the diversity of these talented young bowlers New Zealand will be driven to defence in the field while, at the same time, England's batsmen will profit from the luxury of increasing confidence in preparation for the sterner examinations which await them.