All you can eat

Efforts to bestow an old-fashioned tranquillity over the annual Boxing Day Test at New Zealand's only traditional Test ground - Wellington's Basin Reserve - were compromised by snatches of what might politely be called music between overs.

Mark Richardson and Matt Horne walked out to open the New Zealand first innings of the second Test against Bangladesh serenaded by the sound of Tom Jones inviting his love to "Help Yourself" to his Welsh charms. It was an unintentionally appropriate theme song for this series.

Richardson, after 143 in the first Test at Hamilton, helped himself to 83 in an opening stand of 104 in the second, and New Zealand helped themselves to another innings victory. It said much for the one-sided nature of the series that, even after losing the first two days to rain, Stephen Fleming was still confident of a decisive win at Hamilton - and New Zealand gained it after an hour on the fifth day. The second day at the Basin was also washed out, but New Zealand tidied up their victory an hour into the fourth day.

Khaled Mashud led a raw Bangladesh side reared on flat, grassless pitches into what was effectively an early New Zealand winter. All four games on the tour were affected by rain and all four strips were green and grassy by modern international standards.

Trevor Chappell, Bangladesh's coach, spoke about his team being at the bottom of a steep learning curve. It said much for his poise - if not, perhaps, for his future employment - that he retained a positive attitude in spite of two Test maulings and a defeat against Auckland - by an innings and 193 runs.

The cricket played by Bangladesh suggested that their elevation to Test status was based more on romance than realism. Chappell had said early on that his batsmen needed to learn the patience required for five-day cricket. Yet, in their three major matches on tour, the average Bangladesh innings lasted less than 60 overs. In their 66 individual innings, Bangladesh's batsmen produced only three that lasted more than two hours.

Leading the way was Aminul Islam whose 79 not out in 263 minutes against Auckland was a lone act of defiance. In the Tests, Al Sahariar scored 53 in 131 minutes and Aminul 42 in 175 minutes. Habibul Bashar's 61 (118 minutes) was the only other Test innings above 50.

These were the few flickers of batting form. Mohammad Ashraful, 17, who scored a century on his Test debut, seemed completely baffled by the need to play forward on green, seaming pitches. His scores were those of a boy on a man's errand: 1, 6, 11 and 10.

As New Zealand's batsmen dominated the first Test with 365 for 9 declared, and the second with 341 for 6 declared, there were slim pickings for the Bangladeshi bowlers. Manjural Islam, a left-armer who looks rather like Chaminda Vaas in his early years, displayed Test quality with four wickets against Auckland and five in the Tests. Mashrafe bin Mortaza and Mohammad Sharif, two young medium-fast right-armers, also showed some promise. But there seemed to be no sign of quality spin bowling: senior spinner, Enamul Haque, was not used in the Tests.

New Zealand could look with pride on the development of Shane Bond, a genuinely quick bowler, who took 11 wickets in the series, and the return to form of Chris Cairns with 7 for 53 in the second-innings rout at Hamilton.

Richardson cemented his place as an opener and Horne returned to the top of the order, with Lou Vincent moving to No. 3 after Nathan Astle missed the picnic with a broken hand.

It was an interesting exercise, but only if you are interested in one-sided cafeteria-cricket and don't care whether both sides have an even chance with the menu.