Australia collapsed from a strong position yet again to narrowly lose the Hobart Test to New Zealand by seven runs. Going down to a good bowling attack was by no means the worst thing that could have happened to a side that has struggled like a dialysis patient waiting for a donor, says Malcolm Knox in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The Australian team bottomed out two years ago, when they only just beat the two worst teams to have come here in decades, the 2009-10 West Indies and Pakistan. At that point the team was a sick man in denial, believing he'd burst out of bed any minute. Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey would come good again, Mitchell Johnson was a once-in-a-generation fast bowler, Shane Watson was the new Keith Miller, Simon Katich was Bill Lawry and Bob Simpson in one, Marcus North was a future Australian captain. The fruits of that thinking were harvested in last year's Ashes embarrassment.
In the Australian, Peter Lalor writes that the folly of axing Simon Katich for Phillip Hughes becomes more obvious with each passing innings, each inconsistent performance and each new low.
Doug Bracewell, and not David Warner, should have been named the man of the match in Hobart, says Fred Woodcock on www.stuff.co.nz.
Now we have a situation where the Australian public jump on their mobile phones to decide the man of the match, with the player who gets the most votes receiving the official award. It's nothing more than a popularity vote.
In the New Zealand Herald, Doug Bracewell's father, and former New Zealand player, Brendon talks about his son and his match-winning performance.