After watching our Blackcaps get bullied over in Australia, the situation was flipped and we were treated to a Boxing Day show in which the Blackcaps played the role of the bully. Boundaries and bouncers led the way for the kiwis, although we should take a moment to reflect and put that Chappell-Hadlee series loss into some context; the kiwis played the role of Bangladesh in that series as they were decent, just out-classed in most aspects.

Bangladesh performed as you would expect in their first hit out of the series. They struggled to build pressure with the ball and that many of their wickets fell to short-pitched deliveries is a nice example of how sub-continent teams tend to struggle in Aotearoa. We don't have super fast and bouncy pitches here, but we do have firm decks that will allow the ball to kick up around head-height and while it's fine and dandy to play a pool shot or two, good luck trying to control every pool shot you play. 

Short-pitched bowling was obviously a cheeky tactic from the kiwi bowlers and despite it leaking plenty of runs, it worked. There's nothing wrong with implementing such a plan in the first game, now we wait to see what the bowlers do in the second game as Bangladesh's batsmen will have different plans to the short stuff. 

I was reasonably impressed with Bangladesh and we're being graced with a touring Bangladesh squad that's perhaps the strongest we've ever seen. While many would view this victory from the Blackcaps as a barn-stormer, Bangladesh went along fairly smoothly at 5.88rpo and with Mosaddek Hossain not-out on 50 at No.8, there's plenty of batting there. 

How they go about restricting the kiwis with the ball though will be interesting. I wouldn't be surprised to see the young offie Mehedi Hasan get a run in the next game and I also wouldn't be surprised if we see the same bowling attack used. Either way, Taskin Ahmed and Soumya Sarkar will be crucial as Bangladesh try to slow the runs up in the middle stages, working in combination with their spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Hossain.

Three points on four key Blackcaps players...

Tom Latham struggled over in Australia and along with his Blackcaps homies, he found life a lot easier in kiwi conditions against a weaker bowling attack. With a 113.22sr, Latham worked the ball around the park nicely and while only two of his 11 boundaries (7 fours, 4 sixes) came through the off-side, Latham worked singles and two's on both sides of the wicket like a wizard.

Those boundaries on the leg-side came via the sweep and pull, two shots that aren't exactly staples in every kiwi batsman's gear bag. This allowed Latham to get off strike easily as he worked straight deliveries into the leg-side, while also giving him attack options that saw him score quickly. We tend not to associate Latham with a strike-rate over 100 and in ODI cricket, it's simply a case of turning those dot-balls/leaves (in Test cricket) into singles and two's which Latham executed perfectly.

Colin Munro's innings was standard Colin Munro and there's a glorious nature to the way Munro swings his bat. Within the confines of this game, Munro's knock was a crucial innings that took the Blackcaps from a total of 280ish to 320+ and if either Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Luke Ronchi or Colin de Grandhomme can hit 50-odd off 30 balls, then the Blackcaps will be in a great position more often than not.

Consistency is always the key and that's especially the case in a series like this where the Blackcaps are firm favourites. Munro dispatched a solid bowling attack that isn't close to being similar to Australia's trio of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc - let's keep it real here - and now Munro has to show off his class and get more runs in the remaining two games. 

The battle for runs between Munro and Neesham is a funky little side-show to keep tabs on. They are both capable of working the ball around to get themselves in and they are both capable of tonking it to all parts, so I'll be interested to see who finishes up the series with more runs. The Wildcard's happy because his boy Munro got the runs here, my boy Neesham didn't quite get the bickies.

Finally, Neesham and Lockie Ferguson took 3 wickets each which was lovely. These two played together for Auckland Boys Grammar, scaring the shit out of battlin' schoolboy batsmen around Auckland when they were both fit and healthy and here they are taking 3 wickets each in an ODI for the Blackcaps. 

No one seems overly convinced about Neesham's bowling and with Neesham seemingly likely to be the No.1 all-rounder in this ODI series, Bangladesh will probably eye him up as a bowler they could target. Neesham has the tools to be a very solid 10-over bowler, bowling at a decent pace and equally capable of delivering a top-of-off beauty as he is a roaring bouncer. Bangladesh have seen him and faced him now though and I'd suggest that instead of recklessly shooting for a slightly loose delivery, Bangladesh will be a bit more patient with Neesham and wait for the couple of bad balls each over.

I love that Ferguson made his debut in Australia, against Australia and is now back in Aotearoa where he's able to really suss out his work in ODI cricket. I don't think we'll see Bangladesh take on his short bowling too much in the second game, so then it's up to Ferguson to tinker his plans and show what else he can do. If there is one kiwi bowler who I want to make the yorker his trademark - like Starc - it's Ferguson and while he bowls fast, he's going to need to rely on the bouncer, yorker and stock-standard line and length stuff.

Don't sleep on a possible Blackcaps bowling attack of Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry. 

The return of Neil Broom didn't yield any great result with 22 runs, coming at the lowest strike-rate (68.75) of any kiwi batsman. Keep an eye on Broom because there's a low key story about kiwi cricket's battlers in this if Broom can't quite make the step up to ODI cricket in Ross Taylor's place. This follows the selection policy of going with domestic veterans that the Blackcaps selectors have employed, while Tom Bruce and Henry Nicholls are two young batsmen who are in-form.

More on Tom Bruce - and Henry Nicholls - tomorrow as I'll take a look at this T20 squad.