Hosting a touring sub-continent team for a Test series is always a weird little thing for our Blackcaps, let alone hosting Bangladesh who are on the up but are behind Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India. Any time we get to host a Test series is great and being able to offer Bangladesh a series also oozes good vibes, we also tend to win pretty well so it's always nice to score runs and take wickets.

From a critical cricket-writing perspective though, a series like the recent one is a difficult proposition. For starters, series' that only involve two Tests are incredibly stupid and if people really think Test cricket needs 'saving' then banish two Test series and make ticket prices way cheaper. That's why I let the Wildcard's statistical review of this series simmer for a couple days because that is where we all get to sit back and feel good about our cricketers; runs and wickets, lots of 'em.

As I journey down this river of wanting our Blackcaps Test team to be No.1 in the world, they need to grab a few series wins overseas and compete hard (ideally win series') against better teams in Aotearoa while smoking weaker teams in Aotearoa.

Bangladesh offered resistance and it was hard not to wish them well throughout the series. They showed their class by performing strongly in the first few days, but let's think about the All Blacks for a second because they are the very best in the world for their dominance after the 60th minute. Minnows and weak teams will be able to hold their own for a period of time, however the difference between teams becomes visible as the game or Test match goes on.

There's no great insight here, Bangladesh were solid but they couldn't hang with the Blackcaps when their mental skills and techniques were tested under pressure and fatigue.

Which is exactly how it should be. We should also expect our best batsmen and best bowlers to dominant, which happened so we're only really left to ponder how Jeet Raval and Colin de Grandhomme went. CDG didn't do so well until he was asked to have a whack - which he does tremendously well - and took just 1 wicket in this series, while Raval had a top score of 33.

We shouldn't care though. Raval was dismissed in the first 10 overs just once and that's exactly what you want from your openers as it then allows Kane Williamson the luxury of not facing the new-ball. Individual honours will come, how we value our openers - especially with our two best batsmen at No.3 and No.4 - needs to focus more on time than runs. If Raval scores just one Test century in his career but bats out the first 10 overs most of the time, he's doing his job for the team.

In the big scheme of things, CDG is filling a hole. This is a Blackcaps Test team that doesn't have Corey Anderson or Jimmy Neesham (Scott Kuggeleijn dominates domestic cricket as well) while there's also spinners like Ish Sodhi, Tarun Nethula, Todd Astle, Ajaz Patel who could give the Blackcaps a funkier look about them. Right now though, CDG is doing his job for his country which is great because it means there's no pressure to rush Anderson or Neesham in as all-rounders; they need to be playing better than CDG.

If CDG wants a Test career beyond 10 Test matches, he'll need to perform because we are pretty stacked with all-rounders. For now, CDG doing a job.

Also interesting in the last few days, has been somewhat of an official announcement regarding Martin Guptill. It was everyone's favourite water-cooler comment 'I reckon Guppy should drop to No.5' a few months ago and now it's an idea that the experts (Guppy and Mike Hesson) are putting out into the atmosphere.

This is very similar to the CDG situation as it only increases competition for places and Guppy can't be ignored with his run-scoring in domestic cricket this summer. Just as I'm not overly fussed whether CDG is in the team or not and it's simply up to him to perform, I'm not overly fussed whether Guptill is there or not, opening or in the middle order. As long as he is smacking all sorts of runs though, he deserves to be mentioned and that keeps Henry Nicholls honest with his work at No.5.

What we definitely have is a settled Test team, ahead of South Africa's tour to Aotearoa. There's no major conundrums and instead of pondering if Neil Wagner should be in the trio of seamers for example, Wagner has emerged as our best bowler and the Wager/Tim Southee/Trent Boult trio isn't too shabby.

Well, in the context of beating up Bangladesh. Blackcaps player looked shabby, except in the field. The only note on the Blackcaps drop in general fielding ability is that this comes after the Chappell-Hadlee series over in Australia where the Blackcaps were rather poo in the field as well. It's a concerning trend and how it has got to this point is a major question because we always hear players talking about the only thing that they can control is their fielding - intensity, execution, enthusiasm etc.

As we chase that No.1 Test spot, fielding needs to be the foundation. Hopefully in the next few years we'll have the talent with bat and ball to genuinely compete for the No.1 spot, everything needs to be built upon kiwi spirit in the field though.