Consider this Black Caps Black Book .../Diary a two part masterpiece. The masterpiece bit is up to you, but there's two parts to it. The first is related to the last ODI, the second stanza is a bit of cold water on your expectations. But why Mystery Doc? Why are you such a buzz kill? I'm only a buzz kill because some people feel the need to build the Black Caps up, someone has to offer some balance.

Shout out to King Rossco. For me his efforts kind of show the up and down nature of the expectations around the Black Caps. There was no need to panic, Taylor was simply in a form slump which happens and he was never going to get dropped so it's all good.

I want to combine Taylor's innings and Prince Kane's innings in to one big pot of cricketing gumbo. They play strokes, they don't fidget or solely work singles, nah they hit boundaries. But they hit boundaries effortlessly which is what the Black Caps need from their number 3 and 4. They can score quickly without appearing to take any great risks, which allows the innings to progress at a swift rate and they can quickly bat their opponent out of the game.

Both Taylor and Williamson are worthy of you making an effort to watch them, but when they're batting together or their both amongst the runs in the same innings, that's something special. And yes, the Prince uses the middle of his bat a fair bit

The run out? Just a mix up, it happens.

We got a brief glimpse at how valuable Grant Elliot is as he gave it a decent whack at the end of the innings to go with his elegant gap hitting the game before.

The best result for Corey Anderson and any other legit all rounder in world cricket is a Man Of The Match performance. That means that he's either done a fantastic job with either the bat or the ball, or he's done a nice job with both. 4 wickets? Precisely what he and the Black Caps needed.

That's the impressive thing as each game we've been getting what we need. It's a World Cup warm up series and the Black Caps have been ticking all the boxes really which is why it's understandable that people are getting excited about their World Cup chances.

But, and here it is, but, they've been playing against the same dudes for 6 ODI's coming up to 7. That's a whole lot of cricket and when you're playing against the same team over and over again you're obviously going to figure things out.

Have the Black Caps greatly progressed their case for World Cup glory in these 6 ODI's? No, they've just reinforced that they're good at playing cricket in Aotearoa ... against a team that traditionally aren't good in Aotearoa. Sri Lanka lack any sort of punch with their bowling attack, so I think it's safe to assume that the Black Cap batsmen are much more zoned in on their plans, not so much what Sri Lanka are going to throw up. This isn't even a full strength Sri Lankan side and if they don't get much out of Lasith Malinga, it's hard to see them doing a great deal in the World Cup.

Smacking full tosses over the boundary against Suranga Lakmal is one thing, doing so against Dale Steyn or Mitchell Starc? Hmm, trying to pick up a smooth boundary every over against Ravi Ashwin?

I understand that you're all excited. I like the enthusiasm and who am I to argue against all the support, that's awesome and it needs to happen. But I reckon the Black Caps need to put in some top shelf performances against some better opposition before I start getting excited.

Ah well, the Black Caps can only do the business against who is in front of them, which they're doing so it's all good. But damn, I'm pretty eager to see them go up against the very best.

Shout out to Kyle Mills as well, but mate, the less we see of you the better.