Regardless of what you think about this Blackcaps team, you need to ask yourself two questions. It doesn't matter if you think this Blackcaps team are (or should be) a gun ODI side right now, or if you're like me and think that this Blackcaps ODI group are genuinely capable of developing into the world's best ODI team. Just ask yourself...

Who is our Travis Head?

Who is our Pat Cummins?

In game one we saw that there is some vacant space between these two cricket teams in terms of quality and class, game two simply reinforced that. Head hit his second half-century in two games, smacking 57 off just 32 balls and while Steve Smith and David Warner have both hit hundreds, Head's been the most important batsman for Australia as he's come in at No.4 and kept the runs flowing; Warner was dismissed, up step's Head to strike at 178.12.

And Head is 22-years-old, just 22.

Henry Nicholls is a good young batsman, he ain't stepping into - he's not deemed good enough to be a Blackcaps starter first of all - the Blackcaps and hitting back to back 50+ scores at over 100sr.

Cummins is good enough to make the Australian commentary team wet their nappies, not quite the case for me but it's fairly easy to see how talented Cummins is and why there's so much hype around him. Yeah, well, Cummins took 2/62 in game one and then backed that up with 4/41, only conceding 4.10rpo off his 10 overs.

This made Cummins Australia's most economical bowler, with his 4.10rpo better than the 4.42rpo conceded by Head's off-spin. Not only does Head smack it to all parts, he bowled 7 overs of hard & fast off-spin, darting the ball into the stumps and stopping the flow of runs. Cummins and Head conceded just five boundaries between them, Matt Henry conceded 12.

And guess what!? Cummins is 23-years-old.

The gulf in class is evident in the limited overs experience of David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith, Mitch Marsh, Mathew Wade, George Baily, Mitchell Starc, James Faulkner/Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood. All these lads have been playing ODI cricket together in the world's best team for a number of years, while this Blackcaps ODI team is regrouping (trust me, the Blackcaps will get a lot better in the next 12 months if this group stays together like Australia have done).

Then the gulf in class is evident in that two Australia youngsters step into their ODI team and contribute heavily. The Blackcaps simply don't have a lad who is 22yrs and can strike the ball so easily, while also offering 10 overs of high-quality tweakers, like Travis Head. I mean, we've got Mitchell Santner who conceded just 4.70rpo off his 10 overs, but he's scored 0 and 2 runs in two games, batting down the order while Head has smoked it at No.4.

The Blackcaps don't have a lad who is 23yrs and bowls good areas at over 145km/h consistently, taking 6 wickets in two games, like Pat Cummins. Matt Henry is 24yrs, but he bowls 135km/h and has a tendency to serve up the perfect length for a trip to boom-town, conceding 74 and 91 runs from his 20 overs across two games.

If you're Debbie down-buzz, all of this will be depressing. If you keep development in mind and understand that this Blackcaps ODI side will get a whole lot better, then it's easier to absorb that Australia simply have far better artillery than Aotearoa. People who think otherwise are a wee bit crazy; see Head, Cummins or that Mitch Marsh has played more ODI games than Jimmy Neesham, Colin Munro and Colin de Grandhomme combined.

Development is at the forefront of my mind, hence I'm excited by what I've seen in two games that have had the Blackcaps completely out-classed. We know Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson are legit freaks with the bat and to be honest, they are the only batsmen in this Blackcaps team that could be deemed top-shelf quality while Australia have a few. Neesham has also impressed with his promotion up the order and along with Guptill and Williamson, these three were the only batsmen who looked comfortable at this level of playing against a confident Australian team, in Australia.

While the commentators confused the fuck out of everyone by saying how important it was to rebuild, lay a foundation with a big partnership and then attack later on, only to then preach that one of them needed to go bang asap, I loved the Williamson/Neesham partnership. We know Williamson is great, but we've now see that Neesham can defend against quality bowling, accumulate and hit big ol' boundaries as well.

This needs some context around it because it's our first real look at Neesham being charged with responsibility at No.4 - Ross Taylor's spot. Taylor bats there because he's world-class and can defend, accumulate and whack. You could argue that Neesham's a better batsman than he is a bowler and I wouldn't be surprised to see Neesham continue to be used sporadically as a bowler, zoning in more on his batting (which was largely the case in his younger days in Auckland club cricket).

The lad took a Mitchell Starc delivery to the forearm and didn't flinch, didn't wince, didn't show nothing. 

As long as Santner is conceding less than 5rpo, I'm fairly happy. I want to see the opposite to Neesham, happen with Santner as he's shown nothing with the bat in these two games.

I'm not convinced of BJ Watling's long-term future in ODI cricket. There are young wicket-keeper/batsmen who are knocking on the door (Tom Blundell, Dane Cleaver, Tim Seifert, Glenn Phillips) and the earlier they get a chance, the quicker they settle into international cricket.
I'm not convinced of Latham's long-term future in ODI cricket, but I'm happy to ride it out a bit more. 

This batting line up looks a lot stronger; Guptill, Latham, Williamson, Taylor, Neesham, Anderson ... Phillips (/Blundell/Cleaver/Seifert - in that particular order), Santner, Southee, Henry, Boult.

Given the 'hitters' in that batting line up, including the power of a young wicket-keeper over Watling's noodiling, the likes of Latham will be crucial. That's if he can chip in with a few nice scores to keep his place.

I'm excited for this third ODI as we'll probably see a few funky changes to the team selected and I suspect we'll see the Blackcaps play without shackles. Keep in mind folks that this Blackcaps ODI team isn't the finished article and they've done a reasonable job against a rampant Aussie team, so stay optimistic.