Please ignore the fact that there's a World Cup thingy on, this was a pure Aotearoa vs Australia battle.

So we beat Australia by one wicket, in a game where it's impossible to look back and say 'we should have won it easily'. The same reason Trent Boult finished up with 5/27 off his 10 overs was the same reason why Mitchell Starc finished with 6/28 off 9 overs for the Australians - there was pace and swing.

For me the difference was Brendon McCullum, not only with the bat as his quick 50 at the top made the task a bit easier but also with the captaincy. In a battle of the captains, B-Mac won but to say that Michael Clarke lost that battle because he's dumb misses the mark. I think B-Mac had much better options to choose from ... well I think B-Mac had a much better spin option to choose from.

There's two parts to Daniel Vettori/Gandalf bowling in the seventh over. First, B-Mac having the balls to bring on Vettori on against Australia's premier batsmen on a ground where you could biff a six. In theory, it sounds great as Vettori slowed down the run scoring and forced a few minor mistakes thanks to that but on such an occasion to make such a big call is why we love B-Mac.

Second is Vettori/Gandalf himself, a wizard. Shane Warne said he's now left arm swing, but that's not a slight at Vettori because the simple fact that Vettori can bowl spin bowling without really spinning the ball is flabbergasting.

Vettori is one of the only spinners in the world who could do what B-Mac asked of him.

Would you rather have Vettori or Glenn Maxwell? Duuh.

The Australians felt as thought they needed to keep the runs flowing, hence Shane Watson felt compelled to swing at a short (but quick) delivery from Vettori and why Steve Smith hung his bat out and was caught behind. Vettori came on, bowled dot balls and was backed up by his skipper and fielders. Those two wickets were very different to the majority of the others with were clean bowled or lbw, they were crafted by the bowler.

The rest of the wickets were thanks to quality bowling and average batting.

In international cricket, you'd expect any left arm pace bowler to swing the ball back in to a right handed batsman. You could tell that the Australians (and the kiwis) hadn't faced quality swing bowling much lately and they suffered.

Before Mitchell Starc went on his rampage, we had Tim Southee and Trent Boult leading the World Cup's best bowling figures list. The partnership element here is huge, while Southee picked up some key wickets, it wasn't really his day. Up steps Boult and we don't loose anything. When one of these two lads is feeling it, we'll be alright, when they're both feeling it, we'll be nearly unstoppable.

That theory of playing out Vettori's 10 overs for 35 runs and no wickets isn't relevant any more. That theory came to be when Vettori was our best bowler by quite some distance and now? Well sure, play out Vettori's overs but you won't get a let up from the other end.

B-Mac won by bringing Vettori on early, but he also put a W on the board by keeping Southee and Boult rotating from the other end. Some would have stopped these two and brought on Adam Milne or Corey Anderson, but B-Mac just kept them going.

The batting huh? Well once again, praise due to B-Mac and his higher being Natty Mac. There's only a few batsmen who can completely disregard the bowlers, the swing, the pace and just go out and whack it. That's what he did, to expect the other Black Cap batsmen to do the same is dumb ... they can't ... no one can.

The Black Caps hadn't faced a bowling attack like this for almost 3 months.

It showed. The same as the Aussies here as average batting and quality bowling results in stumps flying, which started the slide as Ross Taylor and Grant Elliot were undone by a typical Starc delivery ... a typical Boult delivery. Sure, it's nearly unplayable, but you'd expect a batsman who has been preparing himself for that to at least get the front dog out and get some bat involved.

For me, that lack of action against the best was epitomised by Corey Anderson. Time, there was plenty of time to leave good balls, defend them if they were straight and wait for a bad one to score off. Instead we got agricultural swings across the line.

That environment though is very, very unique. Which is why it was mental because this is Australia vs Aotearoa sport, there's nothing like it, nowhere. I would have hated to have been Anderson, because I would have been doing the same thing and I'm sure that resulted in some kind words from the Aussies, Anderson and the rest of the lads have now experienced that.

It was telling that the winning blow was hit by the Prince, Kane Williamson. As wickets were tumbling thanks to Starc who was on fire, Williamson stayed around and popped up to whack a six at the end.

On a day where so much crazy shit happened, I couldn't get past the romance of that finish.

The man who is going to be a staple of the Black Caps for the next 10 years...

The man who is going to be a staple of the game's best batsmen list...

The man who is absorbing the wisdom of B-Mac and Gandalf...

The man who is a perfect representation of lovely kiwi lad...

Prince Williamson, ice in his veins, a healthy almost ginger beard framing his face....