While our Blackcaps prepared for their first Test against India, the tier of cricketers below the Blackcaps were doing battle in Lincoln over the course of three limited-overs fixtures. If you're reading this then you probably paid close attention after each game as I ran through the scores and notable aspects of each game, laying some context down around individual performances.

These games not only came at the perfect time because the Blackcaps are playing and guys like Jeet Raval, Corey Anderson, Hamish Rutherford and Adam Milne were in action, they also served as the perfect scene-setter for our domestic summer. Most of the players involved in these three games for the New Zealand XI and Emerging Players XI aren't in the Blackcaps frame just yet and require another season or two in domestic cricket where the stack up runs and wickets, demanding selection for the national team.

Here's a wrap of thoughts and notes from those three games...

Hamish Rutherford laid a nice platform for the summer with scores of 51, 45 and 12. Not spectacular but good enough, especially after Rutherford spent the winter with Derbyshire in County cricket.

Jeet Raval had a similar series to Rutherford, just a bit different. Raval had the big score that Rutherford lacked with 88 in the first game and then fizzled with 33 and 13 in the next two games. Raval and Rutherford are probably the top two contenders for the Blackcaps Test opening gig over the next few years and they both got some runs here which is a good start.

They will however need to step up big time over the summer and dominate domestic bowling attacks to push for higher honours, especially as the Blackcaps are keen to take a geeze at Luke Ronchi as an opening option.

The battle of the three young phenoms lacked a dominant force and any sort of consistency, yet we did get a taste of what this youngsters can do and why we should look forward to them living up to the potential they have shown. Rob O'Donnell, Will Young and Mark Chapman all put up a notable score, so it was an even finish for the three.

Rob O'Donnell: 10, 70, 6.

Will Young: 14, 24, 81.

Mark Chapman: 72, 16, -.

Clearly they were taking the piss though...

In terms of the wicket-keeping batsmen, Tim Seifert stood out ahead of Cameron Fletcher and Tom Blundell. It's hard to judge their work with the gloves as those duties were rotated constantly, so we'll stick to their output with the bat and Seifert has laid the challenge down to Fletcher, Blundell and the other keepers around Aotearoa ahead of the domestic summer.

What I like about this is that Seifert will do this job for Northern Districts while BJ Watling is on Blackcaps duty, which will give Seifert many opportunities to stake his claim for when Watling moves on and hopefully put some pressure on Watling to perform as he's slipped up a little with the runs of late.

Tim Seifert: 43, 8, 67*.

Tom Blundell: 26, 26, 0.

Cameron Fletcher: 11, 16, 0.

Michael Bracewell has been a batsman to watch with Otago for a number of seasons now and if he can stack up the runs this summer, he'll be in the mix for a Blackcaps batting spot sooner rather than later. Bracewell will need to deliver this summer though as he failed to make the most of his opportunities in these games, twice opening and then coming in at No.4 with scores of 28, 15 and 35.

Shawn Hicks showed us a glimpse of his talent and he'll join O'Donnell and Chapman as youngsters to watch with Auckland this summer. Hicks wasn't really a factor with the ball, only taking a wicket in the final game and going at 8rpo, 5.83rpo and 4.57rpo but he did hit 43* in the second game and then retired hurt on 13 in the final game (10 in the first game).

Seth Rance once again showed what a trooper he is with his medium-pace, taking 6 wickets over the three games while also being one of the most economical bowlers of each game. As I said after each of Rance's performances, his best chance of a Blackcaps spot is in limited overs cricket and we've simply got to think of Rance as being on the fringes of the Blackcaps because he has delivered the goods for Central Districts consistently. It's hard to see Rance getting a look-in for the Test team though and the presence of younger options (I prefer youth with this Blackcaps team) could keep him as a very good domestic bowler - nothing wrong with that.

Don't sleep though as another great summer with the ball from Rance could make things very interesting.

As for those young seamers...

Jacob Duffy: 1/38 (4.75rpo), 2/52 (5.78rpo), 2/54 (6.75rpo).

Ben Wheeler: 1/43 (5.38rpo), 2/8 (2.67rpo).

Ed Nuttall: 1/44 (5.50rpo), 2/35 (5.68rpo), 0/43 (8.60rpo).

Scott Kuggeleijn: 0/37 (6.17rpo), 2/34 (5.67rpo), 1/45 (5.63rpo).

Lochie Ferguson: 5/61 (7.63rpo), 1/41 (5.13rpo).

Adam Milne was picked as a batsman, so let's see how that when for the Stags quick bowler; 16, 10, 15. So, Milne might be joining Doug Bracewell in that faux all-rounder role that the Blackcaps and their selectors love so much. Some runs here from Milne could have made things funky, however he failed in that regard and while he might score runs against domestic bowling attacks, I'm riding with Milne and Bracewell both failing to go very far as all-rounders. They are bowlers, who can bat a little at No.9/10.

Corey Anderson was another interesting case as he was also picked to bat thanks to injury. Anderson did manage 51 in the first game but failed to back that up, with 34 and 16 in the next two games. There's obviously plenty of faith being shown in Anderson because he's an international-calibre talent, we just didn't see Anderson dominate bowling attacks made up of our best domestic bowlers.

Those three young batsman deserve plenty of attention this summer with O'Donnell and Chapman lacing up for Auckland and Will Young in a leadership role with CD. As for the bowlers, Jacob Duffy led the charge with 5 wickets (2nd to Rance) and he's established himself in Otago's bowling attack so it would be great to see him dominate to some extent.

With the bowlers, the most exciting thing is that there's a group of them who all have the talent to demand Blackcaps selection with wickets this summer. Wheeler will lead CD's bowling attack, Nuttall will add some serious swing and seam to Canterbury's attack, Kuggeleijn was the leading wicket-taker for the seamers last summer and if he can back that up with Northern Districts he'll be in the mix while Lochie Ferguson has shown that his pace can trouble domestic batsmen as part of Auckland's bowling attack.

Hands up if you're ready for some domestic cricket!?