Before the kiwi summer began, NZ Cricket and fans alike hung their hats on a home Test series against Australia. The general excitement about some long awaited trans-Tasman Test cricket had everyone oozing good vibes, finally we'd been shown some respect by the Aussies and finally we'd get to face a stern challenge. Test cricket is a test in all regards and there's nothing like Test cricket against Australia to really test your skills and mental fortitude.

There were warning signs, not of what could eventually happen but warning signs that perhaps everything with regards to the BLACKCAPS isn't quite directed on the path that I would like. A third home Test against Australia was shelved for more ODI cricket with NZ Cricket eager to stack the cash via ODI cricket after the World Cup, throw in some rather pointless limited overs cricket against Pakistan and it just felt as though the priorities weren't quite where they should be.

Any sort of cricket in Aotearoa against Sri Lanka and Pakistan should go in the favour of the kiwis. A staple of this BLACKCAPS team has been their ability to defend home soil against teams who either aren't very good, or that traditionally struggle in kiwi conditions. Sri Lanka love Aotearoa having toured here frequently in recent years (which should limit excitement regard the BLACKCAPS home form), but this time they arrived without their two pillars in Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.

We can lay claim to being the first major victims of Dushmantha Chameera and his whippy right-arm quick bowling. Watching Chameera emerge with quick stuff that often dropped short and gave our batsmen the hurry up was exciting.

Sri Lanka are rebuilding their Test team and the BLACKCAPS did the trick against them, as they should before Pakistan arrived. It's hard to really offer any opinion about the Pakistan series as it was a few limited overs fixtures squeezed into the holiday period, with little value coming from it; especially with no Tests.

How can I genuinely get excited about a tour if there are no Tests?

I came around a wee bit to this though as the World T20 event now looms as the next cricketing activity. Pakistan are a good T20 side and there was certainly benefit in fine tuning the limited overs skills, especially against guys like Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Gul, Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz.

This only fed the diet of limited overs cricket though and ahead of the Chappell-Hadlee series, this could be viewed as a positive. The BLACKCAPS won the Chappell-Hadlee series with some fine performances in the coloured clothing, which only raised the roof with excitement levels for the two Tests against Australia after the BLACKCAPS had put up a solid - but not good enough - showing in three Tests in Australia earlier in the summer.

Personally, I only really care about Test cricket. T20 cricket and ODI cricket holds great appeal around World Cup time and I'm actually really looking forward to the World T20 event, but Test cricket is the be all and end all for me as a writer. In two Test series against Australia this summer, the BLACKCAPS went down 2-0 and 2-0, with the Australian leg of their trans-Tasman Test battle a lot more profitable than what we saw on home soil.

In Australia, Kane Williamson hit two centuries and a 50 as he continued to show off his world-class ability. Many will remember Ross Taylor's double-hundy - highest score by a foreigner in Australia - and will forget that Taylor didn't pass 36 runs in his five other innings' while Brendon McCullum could only muster an 80. Williamson had to endured a tough series in Aotearoa, such is life when you are your team's best batsmen and have that target on your back. From this point on, watching the development of Williamson and how he comes back from this in Test cricket will be very interesting.

That Williamson and Taylor did score runs in Australia is a fantastic sign and these two are important figures of the BLACKCAPS' batting line up moving forward without B-Mac.

The BLACKCAPS still need to fine tune their pieces around Williamson and Taylor, which is what I see as holding the BLACKCAPS back from being a top-three Test team. There are a few issues stemming from a greater responsibility on the role-players in McCullum's retirement that was evident throughout the summer, but remember that this team is still growing and we are closer to the start of their mission than we are to the end of it.

The first is the inability of our batsmen to simply bat accordingly. Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling, Corey Anderson and our big-three (excluding B-Mac, he just has a whack) just couldn't defend/leave good deliveries. Australia showed via Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges and Steve Smith that if you are good enough to defend/leave good deliveries then there will be a reward. The tough part is being mentally strong enough to be able to defend/leave good deliveries for a full day or 200 deliveries. Our batsmen could do this for 50 or 100 deliveries max.

Take Tom Latham for example, a batsmen who I thoroughly enjoyed watching anchor or try to anchor the top of the innings. Latham's class is evident and it's hard to ignore just how suited Latham is to opening the innings in Test cricket. He's organised and knows his game well, leaving and defending how we want him to, but Latham just can't do it long enough to make the most of his starts. Getting out after a start is incredibly frustrating but at least we have seen Latham display good signs, unlike Martin Guptill.

Who knows where we go with Guptill, who now reflects the current BLACKCAPS predicament where they are a top-tier ODI side but can't make that jump in the whites. Previous BLACKCAPS teams have also been very good limited overs teams and mediocre Test teams. Will we accept that? Hell no, we are chasing the world No.1 Test spot ... that Australia owns.
Guptill has the biggest question mark floating above his head of all our batsmen. I am eager to see a different young opener get a run and some time to build an opening partnership with Latham, but this can't be done recklessly and until there is an opener who demands patience and faith, then Guptill will be the man.

We unearthed a Henry Nicholls who also looks tidy, organised and scorers freely in limited overs cricket but couldn't quite kick on after a 59. Nicholls scored 8, 59, 7 and 2 against Australia and to reflect negatively on Nicholls efforts would be wrong as there are more senior batsmen who didn't step up, resulting in more pressure on Nicholls. Nicholls will be far better off with this run in Test cricket and already looks like a long-term No.4 Test batsman but we'll all welcome Ross Taylor back with open arms.

If you put a gun to my head, I'd take Mitchell Santner's batting over Corey Anderson's and this complicates the allrounder situation immensely. We did however see Anderson get two Tests against Australia where he batted No.6 and much like his skipper B-Mac, Anderson played his natural game but also showed a patient streak, putting away big shots to graft his way through hostile spells from Aussie's bowlers.

Anderson and B-Mac play/ed a certain way and that's okay as their strongest asset his smacking a cricket ball. Neither are suited to gritting their teeth and scoring a century off 200 balls though, going all in on saving an innings and this is where the BLACKCAPS were exploited as the middle-order's attacking instincts always offered opportunities for a wicket.

This is only made worse by BJ Watling's lack of form. Previously Watling would stop the flow of wickets and regain some ascendancy for his team, yet since his 120 against England in Leeds, Watling has scored a single half-century which game in the last Test of the summer. Watling didn't pass 32 runs in an innings to that point, which is an almighty slump and certainly hindered the BLACKCAPS' ability to fight back. He did however score 58 and 46 in the Christchurch Test, which could be a sign of a return to form and Watling will now get a chance to tweak his work in the whites with Plunket Shield cricket.

There is plenty to discuss with regards to The Stable (bowlers) so that will get it's own spot in the limelight this week. My general thoughts about the BLACKCAPS' summer are reflected in the efforts of the batsmen, who did well in coloured clothing and/or when there was little adversity. When faced with stiff opposition in Test cricket though, our batsmen simply didn't have the technique or 'top two inches' to be able to see off good bowling spells and enjoy the fruits of their labour.

I don't know about you, but I judge the BLACKCAPS on their Test performances and the way our batsmen often got out could be directly linked to a diet of limited overs cricket; too many attacking shots, not enough staying power. The players don't decide who they play against and what format those games will be in, that's up to NZ Cricket and there's only one way to improve the ability of our Test batsmen and that's with more Test cricket.