Yes, yes you deserve a nice little reward for making it to the big dance. Home Tests against Australia, it doesn't get much bigger than this (maybe a five Test series, that'd be sweet) and  your reward was that ODI on Monday night; a skillful, intense and gritty trans-Tasman entree to the main course of Test cricket.

The Basin Reserve pitch looks green, as it should and we all know how sketchy Australia looked with the bat in England. That's the underlying narrative of this whole series with Australia fighting a perception that they struggle in bowler-friendly conditions where the ball is swinging and nibbling, something that they don't find a whole lot of in Australia. 

Australia are well aware of this and have stacked their bowling attack with 'kiwi medium-pacers'. Jackson Bird has been named to restart his Test career, he's the perfect man to get a Test start in Aoteroa as he'll target a line just outside off-stump with patience, similar to Josh Hazlewood. Peter Siddle is the last of the trio, an experienced workhorse who will help maintain pressure on the kiwi batsmen along with Nathan Lyon offering his offies and Mitchell Marsh chipping in with a few overs as well. With no Mitchell Starc, this is a weakened Aussie attack however they are perfectly poised to make the most of kiwi conditions as Hazlewood is the second coming of Glenn McGrath, Bird is a poor man's Hazlewood and Siddle bangs it in on a good length, extracting all the nibble off the pitch that he can. 

Australia have three of the best bowlers for kiwi conditions, they'll love the look of that green pitch.

They are flat-track bullies sure, I'm very weary of the Aussie batsmen as well and how they deal with the conditions/pitch will be the key. There shouldn't be too much change from David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Adam Voges, Mitch Marsh and Peter Nevill, there's enough talent in that batting line up to score over 300 in either innings which should be enough. They won't dominate, scoring 500+ as they have done in Australia, they just need to get enough runs to force the pressure back on the kiwis and give their bowlers some ammo.

It will start with David Warner who is the Aussie batsmen who will demand my attention. Warner's career has been fun to watch as he transitioned from a T20 whacker to a world class Test batsman who averages 93.12 against New Zealand. Warner has four centuries against New Zealand but hasn't actually played in our lovely country so we don't have a reference for how the willow wielding opener looks in kiwi conditions. His attacking strokes will provide opportunities, especially if he's eager to feel bat on ball outside off-stump but I reckon Warner will knuckle down in the early stages of his innings.

I've enjoyed Warner's Test career because he's shown improvements in his discipline and defence. Warner is good enough to play the patient game and wait for a bad ball to punish, there will definitely be bad balls for him to punish as well.

With no Ross Taylor for the BLACKCAPS, Henry Nicholls should be presented with a massive opportunity to state his claim for the long-term No.4 spot. Nicholls is tidy enough to handle the Aussie onslaught and those Aussies will ensure that Nicholls is severely tested, not only with the bat/ball but also mentally. Nicholls has looked comfortable at every level we have seen him at over the past few months, a good sign that he's capable of slotting into international cricket but the job of Martin Guptill, Tom Latham and Kane Williamson will be to ensure that Nicholls isn't coming in early with Australia on fire.

Can Guppy keep his golden summer going, in the biggest event of the summer? 

How quickly will Tom Latham adjust to trans-Tasman Test cricket after slipping back down to domestic cricket?

Is Kane Williamson in a slump!?

A lot will be said about Brendon McCullum and fair enough as the bus pulls up at the penultimate stop on the McCullum farewell tour. In a perfect world we'd be treated to a solid start and McCullum coming in with 300 runs on the board, from which McCullum can do what he does best and whack it to all parts. 

The loss of Mitchell Santner sucks, I was looking forward to watching one of our most talented cricketers go at the Aussies again, especially with the bat. That means a call up for Mark Craig and this Test is a bit of a crossroads for Craig as he's left a sour taste after failing to impress in recent BLACKCAPS outings which has come at the same time as Santner's arrival and the impressive work of Ish Sodhi in coloured clothing. Australia will target Craig, safe in the knowledge that Craig has a tendency to dish up tripe at least once an over and the Aussies could look to put a halt to Craig's career here.

Mike Hesson has gone with Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell as his pace trio, with Corey Anderson also included in the squad. Anderson has been bowling well in limited overs cricket, worthy of a Mitch Marsh type of role in this BLACKCAPS side where Anderson will be required to bowl at least 10 overs a day. That Anderson trundled in and biffed deliveries up around 140km/h in the last ODI is a great sign and he's been slowly building towards this throughout our limited overs summer.

I'd have loved to have seen Neil Wagner get another run as he rarely goes wrong, Bracewell however does give the BLACKCAPS three bowlers who can extract everything out of a favourable pitch. What will be important for the kiwi bowlers is their patience as they might not strike initially, but if they are disciplined enough to plug away at a dangerous line and length then they will be rewarded. We have seen this bowling attack tend to slip away or simply unable to dot 'em up when wickets aren't falling and despite the Aussie woes in bowler friendly conditions, you've still gotta build pressure and force a false shot.

What has me so excited about this Test is that I genuinely don't know who's going to win or who's going to enjoy the most success across the five days. The kiwis could easily expose an Australian weakness against swing/seam although I'm very cautious about Australia as they would have identified this as an area they need to sharpen up and they have a batting line up that could swiftly take the game away from the kiwis.

Australia's bowling attack however is what has me losing sleep. Any 'advantage' that the kiwis have thanks to the conditions/pitch will also apply to an Aussie bowling attack that will relish the opportunity to nibble away around off-stump; Hazlewood, Bird and Siddle all attack the stumps, do so with precision and will sprinkle their Aussie ruthlessness over the top.