Firstly, in keeping with the theme of the summer, the opposition was poor. I am generally a big fan of the way that the Black Caps play their cricket: from a population less than Victoria, they produce an international team that is usually pretty competitive. (I love the Vics, but I don't think they'd be consistently combative in international cricket.) But with a depleted bowling attack, featuring a debutant in Brent Arnel, they could not contain the powerful Australian batting line-up, which cruised to 5 for 459 in a day-and-a-half, and promptly collapsed in the first innings and incurred a rare follow-on request from Ricky Ponting.

A better second-innings effort sent the game into a fourth innings and a fifth day, but as is usual with Black Cap teams, too much was left to too few, and once Brendon McCullum fell this morning the prospect of setting Australia a testing chase was gone.

Of the hosts' world-class performers, McCullum and Daniel Vettori stepped up with the bat, but the classy Ross Taylor will be disappointed with his returns of 21 and 25. Opener Tim McIntosh played to his limitations in the second dig for an excellent 83, and his opening partnership of 70 with the promising young (24) transplanted South African BJ Watling in the second innings at least gives the New Zealanders hope that their troubled top order posts are now occupied by a couple of fighters. But Peter Ingram at number three will remain a liability as long as his feet are set in concrete: that may wash in the limited-over formats but not at this level. Jesse Ryder, if and when fit, is the man for this job. Martin Guptill is only 23 and looks talented enough, but appeared tentative when Bollinger was on a roll in the first innings and will not want to watch the tape of his soft second-innings dismissal, chipping Ryan Harris to cover.

Bowling-wise, the Kiwis must accept that Chris Martin does not trouble the Australians. Although wicketless, the rejuvenated Darryl Tuffey did - and was economical - but has fallen to the Black Cap injury curse. Arnel took a couple of wickets on his Test debut, but at 31, is not a long-term prospect, unlike the wicketless Tim Southee. For the best finger-spinner in the world, Vettori had an unproductive game with the ball. The hosts badly missed Shane Bond, busy cavorting in the IPL and sadly lost to Test cricket.

As for the visitors, they batted with great purpose, in particular, Michael Clarke and Marcus North. Clarke - like his great mate Warnie - appeared to treat the middle of a Test Cricket ground as the best place to escape lurid headlines and lowlife paparazzi, while North bore out batting coach Justin Langer's pre-match assertion that he was creaming them in the nets. Although, of course, Langer was not going to tell the media that North was netting with all the touch and finesse of a glue-sniffing elephant, was he?

The other positive to come out of the match for the Australian batting line-up was Phillip Hughes (pictured, above) who fairly motored after the small target this morning, with 86 from 75 balls. With all the doubts that are expressed about Hughes' reliability at the top of the order - doubts that weren't exactly suppressed by the get-out slash he offered up in the first innings - the kid is averaging 51.25 in Test cricket, with most of it played against the tougher opponents on the schedule, England and South Africa. I did not agree with his dropping in England - it screamed at the English that they had got into the Australians' mental kitchen and were dictating proceedings - and besides, if failure was being punished, why was Hussey seemingly off-limits to selectorial admonition in England? I think Hughes has earned the right to be reassessed. OK, he plays the odd flaky shot, but they are aggressive flaky shots - we're not talking shouldering arms to Flintoff multiple times.

With the ball, the great strength of Australian cricket came to the fore: the depth of the first-class game, and the production line it supplies (when asked) to the Test team. Doug Bollinger continued his outstanding summer, getting into great line, testing length and very difficult 'shape' to counter, particularly coming across the Kiwi right-handers. Looking at the attack through the prism of the upcoming Ashes, he looks like he could be a handful for the English, because first and foremost, he is a wicket-taker.

Ryan Harris also looked at home in Test cricket, having waited a long time for it and probably believing until recently that it had passed him by. With the long grind of the Australians' schedule, and the associated injury concerns that have sidelined Hilfenhaus and Siddle, it helps to have someone come in and grab a chance, which Harris' tour rival Clint McKay did not in the home summer. Harris banged away on troubling lengths and snaffled the danger-man McCullum in the second innings, and can be highly satisfied with his six victims in his debut Test. And Nathan Hauritz bowled better than his figures suggest, shouldering the bulk of the into-the-wind work - which in Wellington, truly means something.

Mitchell Johnson, however, did not have a good match. It has been officially airbrushed from history, and no-one in the Australian cricket set-up will admit it, but he hasn't had a good match against quality opposition since roughing up the South Africans a year ago. Back then he might have deserved being named ICC Cricketer of the Year: instead, picking up that gong after costing Australia the Ashes in 2009 with a series full of erratic rubbish - not remedied at any stage by the Australian hierarchy, either by coaching or giving him a rest - looks about as apt as the Nobel that Barack Obama won for his first three weeks in office. There has got to be a Plan B for when Johnson is being carted: no more pretending it does not happen.