While they are going through the motions at Centurion, in the absence of one captain, Sourav Ganguly, and under the sufferance of the other, Shaun Pollock, at Hobart they are battling the only enemy in the game older than political brawling - the weather. For all their fighting qualities, the New Zealanders have been completely outclassed in this contest, their embarrassment limited only by the rain. On the first two days the Australians belted runs merrily at 4.5 an over. On what there was of the third day, the Kiwi top order struggled merely to stay at the crease.

Apart from the subtle Daniel Vettori with the ball and the anything-but-subtle Chris Cairns, Craig McMillan and Nathan Astle with the bat, the Kiwis have looked well below-par in this series. Those four are fine cricketers. Add a Richard Hadlee and a Martin Crowe and this would be a very good New Zealand team, but the gaps in quality are too numerous to be papered over against the best side in the world. New Zealand's batsmen just have not adjusted to the combination of excellent attacking fast bowling from the Australians and the extra pace and bounce of the local pitches.

Cricket keeps telling us it's a professional game, yet as the disgraceful events in South Africa have shown, the entire structure can be threatened by one ruthless administrator with a shipload of chips on each shoulder. And on a more prosaic level, professional players continue to struggle in foreign conditions. Admittedly it is not easy to come from the slow, seaming pitches of New Zealand to Australia's fast, bouncing ones. The Indians are powerful opponents at home - as they showed the Australians again this year - but woeful away.

With the world's best cricketers now paid enough to see themselves as pseudo-pop stars, why can't they prepare for alien conditions properly? Why don't the Indians lay down some synthetic pitches somewhere that approximate Australian conditions, then spend a month preparing on them for a tour Down Under? And the same goes for Australians about to go to India. Adelaide Oval's indoor centre has pitches that range from Perth pace to subcontinental slow turn. Technically these surfaces can be made. Come on Mr Dalmiya, do something positive for the game with all those millions of dollars in the BCCI's bank accounts.

Mark Ray has covered Australian cricket since 1987 and is also the author of a number of books on the game.

Day 1 Verdict: Already out of sight
Day 2 Verdict: Punter makes a case for the captaincy

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