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This has continued a trend that started in the first two Tests when England toured Pakistan in late November.
The curator is alleged to have told the media during this Test that the wicket had been prepared as requested by New Zealand Cricket. It was a sub standard strip that offered neither side the chance to press for victory.
Even if a few hours had not been lost on the third day due to inclement weather a result never appeared likely.
A similar situation occurred in the first two Tests during the recent England tour of Pakistan. Both Tests were tiresome draws that did nothing to attract people to watch the games. This fact has been glossed over after the unexpected English win in the third Test of that series stole all the attention.
The Test that resulted from this pitch was hardly the sort of advertisement that Test cricket needs at this time. Positive and entertaining cricket is needed more now than ever to combat the scandals that have dogged the game for the past 18 months.
In this test, New Zealand posted a large total and hoped they could force a follow on. However, since they had batted with relative ease for much of their innings, they should have expected Zimbabwe to do so also.
New Zealand only managed to take eight wickets in the entire Test. Apart from the pitch, it is clear New Zealand need Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori back as soon as possible before they will again start increasing their rating.
New Zealand still remains in seventh place in the ratings. However, their lead over Sri Lanka is now only 7 ratings points.
Zimbabwe remains in ninth place in the ratings. However, by drawing this Test, they managed to improve their rating for the first time in two years.
Zimbabwe showed that their batting feats in India, where they scored over 1500 runs in two Tests, was not a one off. While not posting a big total in this Test, they never looked like having to follow on or bat with their backs to the wall to save the Test.
This is an area where they have shown significant improvement considering their preponderance for most of the last two years to collapse in at least one innings of each Test.
Like New Zealand, their bowlers could not break through. Again, the pitch clearly did not help matters. However, this was their weakness in India and they need to improve in this part of the game if they want to start taking 20 wickets in a Test to secure victory.
The latest Test cricket ratings are: 1 Australia (1168); 2 South Africa (1144); 3 England (1056); 4 Pakistan (1053); 5 West Indies (1050); 6 India (1011); 7 New Zealand (988); 8 Sri Lanka (981); 9 Zimbabwe (911); 10 Bangladesh (876 -provisional).
