Another big win thanks to another slick performance from Aotearoa as they smacked Ireland around, then skittled them. Business as usual for this tri-series, although we did see a different Blackcaps team rolled out even with the standard rotations that we've already seen take place in the two previous games. 

Adam Milne and Corey Anderson were the major inclusions, while the homie Matt Henry also made his first appearance in this tri-series. I'll ease up on celebrating Neil Wagner's 50-over work and restrict that to the Kiwi County Tour, where Wagner will continue to play for Essex (moving from 50-over to four-day cricket) and shun the Blackcaps, but the return of Henry sees one of our best ODI bowlers back in black for the first time this year.

Henry got smoked like all the other bowlers by Australia in Canberra and could only get a single ODI against Bangladesh on December 31st throughout the rest of the summer. I'm still puzzled as to why Henry isn't in the Champions Trophy squad and while it doesn't solve my confusion, given Henry wasn't given any decent opportunities to start 2017, it's no real surprise. How or why Henry fell out of favour is the most puzzling aspect of all of this.

All the bowlers got spanked by Australia in that ODI and that game against Australia was the only ODI in Henry's last 10 that he didn't take a wicket in, only the sixth ODI in the 31 game Henry has played that he didn't take a wicket. I like Henry, it's hard not to like a bloke with an ODI bowling average of 24.45; maybe his average of 50.20 through four ODIs in England is working against him.

I elaborate on Henry because he was back taking wickets in this game with 3/36 @ 4.50rpo. All the kiwi bowlers took wickets and it's hard to judge them from this tri-series when they are going to be up against much better batsmen during the CT, the way Henry seamlessly managed to get knee-deep among the wickets upon his return though warms my soul. 

In fact, this specific bowling attack warmed my soul because this is how I'd select the team for such a tri-series, with Tim Southee and Trent Boult absent. Henry, Adam Milne, Corey Anderson, Scott Kuggeleijn, Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi are going to feature heavily in the Blackcaps moving forward into the next five years, if not longer and of course there are other guys who are part of a wider youngish group. Simply looking at those names, pondering what they do with the ball (accuracy, seam, swing, pace, turn, flight) and pondering what they have already done in such short careers thus far can only leave you excited about what's to come #GoldenEra.

In the context of the CT, Henry's return means zilch as he's not in that squad. Milne is in that squad and he took a wicket, although I'm not overly fussed by what Milne does in this tri-series other than him bowling as many overs as possible. Milne is one of two or three super-intriguing Blackcaps CT players as he's been selected after not taking a wicket in three Plunket Shield games when he returned from injury and he's been selected based on what he possibly, could do rather than what he's done recently. 

Milne could genuinely be a breakout star at the CT, or he could be an under-performer ...in a Blackcaps team that under-performs.

Kuggeleijn continues to impress (2/17 @ 3.40rpo) and Sodhi was tidy once again (1/25 @3.33rpo) as non-CT players. Santner continues to do what he's done throughout his ODI career while almost as intriguing as Milne is Anderson and he got through what must be considered a 'planned' 4 overs. Anderson had his bowling workload restricted to 3-4 overs per game in the last few rounds of Plunket Shield cricket, then did some IPL stuff (no more than 4 overs) and here he is getting through some bowling. Anderson took 2/15 @3.75rpo and batted at No.5, which with Neil Broom moving up to No.3 (Kane Williamson's spot), is effectively Jimmy Neesham's No.6 spot.

This raises the question of whether Anderson or Neesham is the top-dawg all-rounder heading into the CT. Both have the power and craft to do a decent job batting at No.6, while it's a bit more complex with their bowling as Anderson is yet to really show that he can get through 10 overs under pressure and Neesham hasn't really snatched up an opportunity to impress with the ball in Anderson's absence. I prefer Anderson's bowling and if he's batting at No.6 then the need for him to bowl 10 overs decreases.

I'd strongly suggest that we should sleep on Kuggeleijn as a future all-rounder though, even Milne's batting is low key celebrated by the Blackcaps. This is another reason to be excited about the future and Kuggeleijn is different in that he'll have to prove his all-rounder status by scoring runs at No.8/9. Compared to Anderson, Neesham and Santner who went straight into promoted batting roles.

Batting huh?

Tom Latham hit a century which is fantastic and complicates the Latham/Ronchi/Guptill situation further, especially with Anderson and Milne slotting in down the order. That doesn't leave much room for Ronchi to wicket-keep and bat down the order. Latham (wk) and Guptill opening is the ideal scenario for me and the issue here is that Latham isn't getting at w-k work at the moment. Even if Ronchi opens the batting and fields, with Latham behind the stumps during this tri-series, I'd be happy as Ronchi could step in for Guptill as a like-for-like replacement and Latham gets some w-k practice.

George Worker isn't in the CT squad, so Ronchi is the best back up to Guppy that we'll have and that means he's got to get in some opening reps. Aotearoa's strongest ODI team doesn't really have room for Ronchi though, so give Latham the gloves.

Other than Latham, Ross Taylor is the bloke to keep a close eye on. Taylor hit another half-century, his second of the tri-series, joining Latham and Bangladesh's Soumya Sarkar as the only batsmen to hit two 50+ scores in so far in this tri-series. The Blackcaps need Taylor to score runs during the CT and Taylor is carrying some nice form in his gear-bag at the moment; Taylor has now hit two centuries and three half-centuries through 10 games this year (five 50+ scores).

Aotearoa has wiped the floor with this tri-series. Now the fun and games begin as more players will join the squad and we might see a Blackcaps team that resembles what we'll see in the CT rolled out in the remaining games. Most of the CT lads have been playing some sort of cricket which is nice, although the Blackcaps must nail their strongest team, individual roles in that team and how they'll play their cricket come CT time. 

With players rotated in and out of the team during this tri-series, we haven't seen much that reflects how the Blackcaps will go about winning the Champions Trophy. Here's hoping these last few games take care of that.

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