It goes without saying that what happened at the hands of the Taliban in Pakistan was terrible, who knows whether they should have played or not. But the world is in a shit place with so much dumb violence, so at least we have sport to escape from the shitness.

Dude, I'm going to be repeating myself a fair bit because these Black Caps are about as up and down as jumping on a pogo stick on a trampoline.

That probably gives it a negative tinge, it's a lot better than that but last night in the fourth ODI we saw the Black Caps step up and perform near their best. Not at their best, but reasonably close.

When I was watching Dean Brownlie (42) and Martin Guptill (58) go about their business rather nicely at the top of the order, I thought - what's the best outcome for these two? For example, if Brownlie continues to get runs and is impossible to ignore, I think he'll still be a World Cup squad member. Guptill could seal an openers spot ... it's pretty confusing and I don't recommend looking that far in to the future but at least I have to think about it right? Because they both got a few runs and did their job, so long may that continue.

As I said recently, openers doing their job and seeing out the early stages is perfect for Kane Williamson. We don't need either Brownlie or Guppy to go big, obviously it would be nice but we just need a solid platform for the likes of Williamson. He's all class, builds an innings perfectly and somehow the wee fella can give the ball a fair whack - but we all know this already. Top hundy from you Kane.

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That's all you need to set a total near 300, the key is increasing the chances of 2 or 3 batsmen getting runs. When you have Williamson, Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum opening the innings ... yes, that's why it's hard to see Brownlie get an openers spot. I love the idea of B-Mac opening.

What's also rather lovely is that we defended 292. Just a good, solid all round effort from the bowlers. There's enough pace to tickle blokes with the new ball, there's variety, there's seam, there's swing and there's our greatest spinner ever. We know what Adam Milne, Matt Henry and Mitch McClenaghan can do, but thanks to a lack of experience they can be excused for being a bit up and down. Last night they bowled well though. Henry continues to impress while Milne, if he continues on this path he'll be hard to leave out.

Just quietly, I think Henry and Milne have at the very least crept up alongside Big Mitch in the rankings and could be convinced that they've overtaken him.

It must be a joy to know that you have Danny Vettori there to bowl 10 overs, keep things tight and pick up a few wickets. I've always had issue with the approach of opponents - 'if Vettori doesn't get any wickets but goes for 3 runs an over, it's all good' because we haven't really had someone who can back up Vettori's good work. I think we're entering a stage where we have the bowlers who can work in tandem with Danny V, if he's just keeping it tight in the middle overs, we have bowlers who can keep the pressure on and strike. Just imagine Danny V locking up one end, with Corey Anderson, Milne, Southee, Boult, Henry or Big Mitch doing their thing from the other.

I would say a little prayer to God, Jah, Buddha and Allah that we get to see Shahid Afridi continue his current run of form in the World Cup. The dude is simply amazing, but to see it in the flesh would be something else.

Peace, love and unity. Please stop killing each other.