Did you know that in 22 days the Black Caps, or should I say a New Zealand team, will be playing against Somerset in England? 

There was a World Cup and now all of a sudden there's this IPL thing, there's no rest or time to really dwell on cricketing thoughts as it all moves pretty quickly. When the 'New Zealanders' take the field in the first of their two warm up ... hmm, nah I prefer 'tour' games before the first Test, their World Cup and IPL performances will mean diddily squat.

Two tour games against Somerset and Worcestershire will serve a great purpose as well, getting blokes back into the grind of white-clothing cricket.

Sidenote; C'mon Eden Park, sort your shit out...

It's hard not to get a little tingle when thinking of this tour, because it's one of those old school tours to the Motherland. It would be nice to get a full five Test tour, but we don't deserve it as the cricketing world still judges the Black Caps on their shitty form of the past decade. 

Three Test's would have been great, but we have to settle for two as the Ashes apparently is more important. Coming out of the World Cup, we have this view of the Black Caps, a view that probably isn't shared by the rest of the cricketing world. The cricketing world is waiting for the Black Caps to perform against quality opposition overseas, to showcase their attacking, aggressive, fun and winning cricket before they make a judgement ... before we can demand blockbuster Test tours.

While we can dream of those tours, this tour, with three tour games and two Test's (we'll ignore the five ODI's and one T20 game) signals a big challenge for the Black Caps. The tour games will give them a chance to figure a few things out and the days of heading to the West Indies with basically no preparation from a years back, are thankfully over. 

Two Test's to make their mark, surely coach Mike Hesson and Brendon McCullum will be looking for two wins. There isn't much room for error in two Test's, fail in the first Test and you've only got one more chance to rectify it. 

While winning is obviously the aim because that's what sport is about, there's also a few other factors that make winning important here. The Black Caps play a brand of cricket that is exciting and this is a chance to put on a show with many eyes around the world watching. Winning two Test's in England will also serve as a warning to the rest of the cricket playing world. 

I'm single-minded, I want the Black Caps to be the best Test side in the world. I want the cricketing landscape to change, I want it refreshed and reinvigorated. The Black Caps have the ability and potential to do all of that, but we're taking baby steps. Hence we have this baby tour of England, two Test's to show what we are made of.

Two Test's to earn the right to demand much more.