When I preach my opinion that this Black Caps team could be the best ever, I do so from a deep canyon in my heart. That canyon has been carved out by some terrible New Zealand cricket teams doing damage to my heart, yup from the bottom of that canyon I have a feeling.

This is a slow journey for this Black Caps side, it's not a quick climb to the top and we are still only in the first stages - we're witnessing this team start to walk after crawling for a while. Taking minor changes here and there, this specific group hasn't been together too long, around 2 years I'd say give or take a bit. Before this series we saw our lads put in two fine performances against the West Indies and India in Aotearoa, which was lovely and all but both those nations haven't really done too well on our shores in recent times. We then went and performed well in the Caribbean, once again lovely and definitely a step forward but let's be honest the Windies aren't a cricketing powerhouse at the moment.

The Black Caps test side leaves the U.A.E with a 1-1 series draw, so let me explore how the Black Caps have taken another step forward. While a 3-0 series sweep would have been fantastic, I'll definitely take a 1-1 draw with a win in the 3rd and last test. As you may have read in my Black Cap Black Book .../Diary entries, we saw the Black Caps learn on the go and improve with each test. They figured out how to deal with the spinners, they showcased their ability with the ball and their fielding got back on track after a pretty shit effort in the 1st test.

Tom Latham got a few runs to ensure that his name is in the mix as a long term opening option. The merry-go-round at the top of the order is highlighted by the fact that Latham and Brendon McCullum opened together after Peter Fulton and Hamish Rutherford did so in the Windies. How do I feel about this opening pair? I like it - left hand right hand combo, they can both attack and knuckle down while also able to play all around the wicket. Hopefully they get a few more opportunities to build on this foundation. McCullum opened, well because he's the man and wanted to face the challenge head on but it's hard to see any batsmen making a case to open instead of McCullum. Rutherford > McCullum? No.

Not a whole lot needs to said about Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor. They struggled to start with but the best thing, perhaps in the whole series was that they finished strong - epitomising the learning thing. You'd be worried if our best batsmen couldn't cash in at all in a series, they showed their class and cricketing knowledge to figure things out.

The bowling group. I'm going to throw Corey Anderson, Jimmy Neesham and Daniel Vettori in to this - their batting isn't ever going to be consistent and I've lived too long as a Kiwi cricket fan relying on our middle/bottom order for runs. I want to see our top order get the runs!

Anywho, this is where the most interest was, and still is. Anderson and Neesham in the same team only works when they both contribute and that's a lot more likely on seaming wickets. But it didn't matter because we could just call on Danny V! How awesome is that? You can't play all 3 of these lads though, but the option of switching things up depending on conditions is very, very handy.

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Having two spinners is also very handy. Obviously Mark Craig was the star of the show, but Ish Sodhi wasn't bad and picked up two key wickets late in the 3rd test. In a perfect world, we'd see both in the team but if we come across a green seamer then you have to expect one is dropped for someone like Neil Wagner. Unless, both Anderson and Neesham play then you have 4 seamers and 2 spinners. Catch my drift? The options are endless.

Tim Southee and Trent Boult deserve huge praise in my opinion. Without Boult, the Black Caps may have been battling to a draw and a 1-0 series loss. They, like Williamson and Taylor didn't start too well but got there in the end which is once again a sign of their class. Southee looks super fit, like strong and powerful, while his ability to get some reverse was pretty cool as well.

They weren't even close to perfect. The Black Caps have a long way to go before you see me saying "told ya so", but they are a group of highly skilled, enthusiastic, smart and gritty cricketers. It was a tough series in an environment that very few of our lads had experienced before, but they didn't fold. They didn't reinforce the stereotypes of New Zealand cricket teams, especially stereotypes related to the sub-continent. Instead, they did the opposite.