In a curious way, New Zealand might have found it easier to pick themselves up had they lost their penultimate ODI against England at Napier this week.
Having to fight through a gruelling day, in which 680 runs were scored, in which they did terrifically well to come within a single run of victory and wrapping up the series, they will have found the letdown tough.
If they had been chasing 241, not 341, and finished tied, that would have been less demanding. But the strain of pushing right to the edge of a substantial target, and not achieving the goal is mentally draining.
Having done so well, New Zealand had got themselves into a position they should have won it. It was theirs to lose, and while they didn't, in a sense it was next worst result.
The New Zealand players will be hard on themselves. There's a temptation to say it was top class entertainment, which it was, and we shouldn't be too critical. Yes, up to a point. But they are in this to win games and will feel dejected.
That said, I'm confident they will pick themselves up.Their batsmen can take strong form onto what should be a good batting strip in Christchurch tonight, most notably Jamie How.
His maiden ODI century was a memorable innings and it won't have come as a surprise to those who have watched him over the last 15 months.
This was no Eureka! moment. This has been coming. Given the context it might prove the outstanding innings of his career, but he proved he's got what it takes. His target now is securing a test spot and he's going about it the right way.
England are improving. Knowing they can't win the series will hurt, but remember how poor they were in the first two ODIs. They've come a long way from the days when New Zealand players were openly talking about the prospect of a clean sweep. They'll take a lot out of the Napier game.
Did the New Zealand players involved in Wednesday night's IPL auction in Mumbai get distracted? I doubt it but it certainly did not turn out the way most expected.
The liking for so many quick, young players at the expense of established specialists slightly surprised me, although my pick is they are looking at getting good value over the three-year term of the initial contracts. If you wonder what sort of shape might, say, Glenn McGrath be in two years from now, you can understand franchise thinking.
It also surprised the world's leading batsman, Ricky Ponting, that he fetched several hundred thousand dollars less than a number of far less talented cricketers.
Allrounders ruled the auction. Players like Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis and New Zealand's Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum, who have two strings to their bow, were in demand. The wicketkeepers who pulled big money are all high quality batsmen.
You can understand Indian players picking up a decent price, with their crowd-pulling appeal to the local audiences.
I wondered if the New Zealand and Australian players who went for high figures, even though they won't be round for much of the inaugural competition, might be used as pawns in a transfer market after the first year. Franchises will be eyeing a capital profit. Time will tell.
But take the mind back 10 years and it is mind-boggling to consider New Zealand cricketers earning close to seven figures per annum for playing cricket. The demand is there, and the players lucky enough to be in their prime now, and in the next few years, are reaping significant benefits.

Looks a bit like the cat is out of the bag at last with news breaking today that I have signed a 2 year deal with the ICL to play for the Michael Bevan coached Chennai Superstars. From a personal perspective I am hugely excited to have the opportunity to play again- something I have been thinking about for the past couple of years and which became a real possibility last year with the launch of the ICL and IPL leagues in India. Although I never really expected to get another shot at professional cricket it is one of the advantages of retiring at as young an age as I did (30)- if things change you are still young enough to have another go at it. The other key consideration for me has always been that I didnt retire because I didnt want to play anymore- for me it was a commercial decision- I needed to make the break and get my business career underway and start looking after my future. The fact I can now return to the game that I love is due to the fact that the businesses are now well established due to a huge amount of hard work over the past 4 years from not just myself but also from my partner Stu Beadle, our NZ and Australian Master Franchisees Louise Dunn and Michael Bevan and all of the many franchisees who make up the APM team. Without the support of our Senior Management team I would not be lucky enough to be able to pursue the opportunity to play again although there is a Mortgage Broking flavour to it- we have been keen to expand the business into the Indian market place for the past 12- 18 months and so this will be a key focus for us strategically over the next few years. In line with this APM will be a key sponsor and we expect to be able to generate significant opportunities as a result of this and ultimately to establish APM in India as a major provider of mortgage solutions to India's rapidly growing middle class.

As you can probably gather from the amount of money on offer for its cricketers India is currently awash with cash and with the size, scale and infastructure to continue to grow as one of the worlds major economys which augers well for its mortgage market.

On a more personal note I am also looking forward to playing in front of my boys- Boston (11) and Astin (4) neither of whom have ever really seen me play. Astin recently dragged me down to the local sports shop to buy him a cricket bat (he's lobbying for a helmet currently) and appears something of a natural on the evidence to date- it will be nice to give both him and Bossy the opportunity to be a part of my career.  

To be honest I feel a bit like the cat who got the cream- especially with so many of my old mates involved as well. It will be something of a Black Caps reunion and we've even managed to drag Stumpa (Steve Rixon) up there. We were thick as thieves when he coached us and I'm looking forward to picking up that friendship again- might have to drag him out to the nets for a 'session' with the gloves on- just for old times sake. Throw in Cairnsy, Macca, Harry, Nath, Bondy and co and at least I wont be short of good company...

Looks like someone has finally found my blog! Before we get started I better get the rules straight- Im a good sport but anything defamatory or offensive will have to be removed so lets keep it clean.

Topic #1: Jesse Ryder. Firstly I agree I wasnt a saint although Im not the one who has to open the batting for the BlackCaps so what I did or didnt do isnt that relevant. I also dont get high and mighty and am very happy to concede that I got it horribly wrong on this one- what I try to do when I comment on players is to try to predict what will happen in the future- how individuals will perform, how teams will perform, the way they will play etc. I could just sit back and present my view of things after it has happened but that wouldn't be too interesting would it? Inherant in this is the risk that you get it wrong but that goes with the territory- you cant expect to predict the future and always be right. Life unfortunately isnt like that. The key thing here is that if you want to dish it out you have to cop it sweet on the other side and I have no beef fronting up for a bit of stick...