On a day when I write about the Blackcaps and Warriors, a good way to get this debrief about the Blackcaps being smoked by South Africa is to remind everyone that this Blackcaps team didn't have Ross Taylor or Trent Boult. The link to the Warriors is the seemingly endless absence of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and if we are being generous, the fact that neither Kieran Foran or Ben Matulino has played a game thus far.

Excuses? Sure.

I only bring these factors up because the reaction to losses for these teams is incredibly dramatic. There's no excuse for how mediocre the Blackcaps looked, but when you take two world-class players - perhaps two of Aotearoa's three best cricketers right now - out of a kiwi cricket team, that kiwi cricket team probably isn't going to win. We just don't quite have the top-tier depth as other nations and so to play well against quality opposition, we need our best players there.

And in case everyone forgot; this Blackcaps team has struggled against quality opposition in the past 18 months. Regardless of the good vibes that come with wins over weaker or similar opposition, this team has done little to suggest that they can genuinely beat a full-strength South Africa, Australia or India in recent times with guys like Taylor and Boult in the team.

That's kinda like expecting Colin de Grandhomme to defend, leave and hit the odd ball to the boundary - CDG gives it a tonk, he's a glorified Tim Southee with the bat. I don't mind CDG as he's a perfect job-doer to have in the mix with a specific job in mind, it might just be a good time to point out that Matt Henry goes alright with the bat and hit 180 runs in six English County games for Worcestershire at an average of 45.

I'll explore some specifics about the Blackcaps Test team in Part 2 tomorrow.

This Test definitely reminded me that man-for-man, South Africa are just better at cricket. A bowling unit without Dale Steyn still consisted of Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada. Put that up against Southee, CDG and Neil Wagner and there's no real discussion to be had there. While they battled hard, nibbling it around and reverting back to Plan B (perhaps bowling short is Plan A) I don't think anyone would argue that Southee, CDG and Wagner can tear through South Africa to dismiss them for 150.

'Balance' is a word that is thrown around when pondering the make up of a cricket team and while it can get a bit confusing at times, South Africa offered up a nice example or two of what I consider to be the joys of balance. The first innings saw Philander bowl as well as he ever will, but he went wicket-less with his gentle-medium's. Bouncy Morkel took wickets (2, 3), the young tear-away Rabada took the wickets (2, 1), JP Duminy's off-spin took the wickets (4) and Keshav Maharaj's left-arm tweakers took the wickets (2, 6).

While Philander didn't take a single wicket in this Test, the other bowlers were good enough to benefit from his delicious nibblers. Out of that Morkel/Philander/Rabada trio, who are you gonna target? Shit, who is the leader of that attack? It's balanced and if you can see off Morkel's hostility, your defensive judgement will be tested Philander, then Rabada will spear an in-swinging yorker at your toes.

Try target Duminy's tweakers and you give him 4 wickets in 11.3 overs. Look to break the shackles against Maharaj and you give him 8 wickets for the Test.

Rip through South Africa's batting line up and some bloke named de Kock will take the innings' away from you batting at No.8 (No.7 without the night-watchman). Or Morkel and Philander will combine to face 140 balls and have you switching off, wondering what's for dinner.
Spin feels like the perfect place to finish this.

Jeetan Patel has surged back into the spotlight and much has constantly been made of his exploits in England. He was picked over Mitchell Santner as the No.1 spinner, thus making Patel the 'best spinner in Aotearoa' for this Test and was bowling on what must be his favourite deck in the world. Patel bowled 14 overs in this Test (only Neesham bowled fewer overs - 12 - in the first innings) and took 1 wicket at 4.07rpo.

South Africa's spinners (plural!) took 12 wickets in this Test. Duminy bowled 11.3 overs (4.08rpo) and 3 overs (1.33rpo), while Maharaj bowled 16 overs (2.93rpo) and 20.2 overs (1.96rpo).

This could tell you all you need to know about Patel's future.

It could tell you all you need to know about the quality of South Africa's spinners.

It could tell you all you need to know of the kiwi batsmen's inability to show patience and bat long periods of time without scoring a whole lot.

It could tell you all you need to know about how either team's leaders read a pitch.

It could just be another example of a confusing selection from the Blackcaps decision-makers.