Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, that's a pretty good start to the Champions Trophy jah?

Kane-o probably uses Hemp Farm NZ's hemp protein powder.

All that holds me back from building a bit of hype around this Blackcaps team is that such hype would revolve around Luke Ronchi hitting 60-odd off 40 balls in one of the next two games. Ronchi could flourish in his pinch-hitting role up the top of the order, banking on Ronchi to repeat the dose though is a brave move and we could have witnessed Ronchi's big innings in a game that fizzled thanks to a sprinkling of rain.

Ronchi hit 65 off 43, Kane Williamson led the way with 100 off 97 balls and Ross Taylor also chipped in with a handy 46 off 58 balls. I really couldn't give a rat's backside about centuries and half-centuries, this tournament is all about a batsman's efficiency at the crease and if you've got four or five batsmen scoring 30+ with a 100+ strike-rate, you'll be well positioned.

Factor in an innings like Taylor's which saw him come to the crease at the fall of Ronchi's wicket while Williamson was ticking over nicely, requiring Taylor's experience to re-build and lay a platform from which the team could attack and things were looking rather chur.

Don't be too upset by the lower-order collapse either. Neil Broom top-scored of the remaining batsmen with 14 and if Aotearoa had batted out their 46 overs, they could have passed 300 so it was a bummer how Jimmy Neesham, Corey Anderson, Mitchell Santner and Adam Milne couldn't influence the innings. But they were trying to score quickly which means they were taking risks and although Australia's bowlers wouldn't be overly happy with their performance, they are good enough to roll through a lower order that's trying to go to boom-town.

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Adam Milne was the pick of the bowlers in the 9 overs of Australia's innings, nibbling the ball back into the right-handers and taking 2/9 @ 4.50rpo. Tim Southee went for 5rpo and Trent Boult took the wicket of David Warner; 1/28 @7rpo.

That set the Blackcaps up nicely, the Mother Nature had different ideas though. Aotearoa were robbed of a possible win, sure. Aotearoa also didn't lose this game and that has them nicely poised to attack England and Bangladesh, with either Australia or England likely to suffer defeat - unless Mother Nature says kia ora again - in their fixture. This wasn't the best-case scenario, it's certainly not the worst-case scenario though.

The selection conundrum was solved with Neesham batting No.6, Anderson No.7 and Santner at No.8, plus we kinda need to view Milne in a similar bracket to Santner at this stage as the decision-makers love Milne's batting ability. He backed that up with 11* off 7 balls and as Santner's batting has never really lived up the the hype, he's now alongside Milne as a bowler who can do a job with the bat.

Perhaps there's a vibe lingering here that the Blackcaps are a bit light on batting, especially after not getting any contributions from No.5 down. As long as the top-five do their job and score 50-70 percent of the runs, there's every chance that Neesham, Anderson, Santner and Milne can have a good day against England. If the top-order do their job, then Anderson is coming in after the 35th over to do what he does best; whack a few.

We should expect the Blackcaps to perform strongly against England, after what they did against Australia. England rolled out a bowling attack with Moeen Ali doing the Santner job, led by a seam attack that is super-solid but Chris Woakes (who has now been replaced by Steve Finn), Mark Wood, Jake Ball, Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett won't strike fear into the kiwis. The key here will be Martin Guptill, Williamson and Taylor putting the batting innings on the backs.

If you asked England about Aotearoa's bowling attack, I doubt they'll fear any of the bowlers either. There's no express pace in either attack, there's no wrist-spinners or spinners with funky variations and everyone bowls 135-145km/h on what is likely to be a flattish pitch in Cardiff - although we don't really know as no warm-up games were played there.

Williamson will go toe-to-toe with fellow Golden Child Joe Root and both are coming off innings that stamped their respective marks on this tournament. Taylor then lines up against Eoin Morgan and the battle of the openers will be Guptill vs Alex Hales. Either team will depend on their best batsmen hugely here and their bowling plans will reflect that, opening up opportunities for the role-players to play match-winning knocks.

I'm still intrigued by Anderson as that guy. Should Anderson be called to the crease earlier than we'd hope, he has the craftsmanship to build an innings, otherwise he can blow an innings apart with a flurry of boundaries.

We got a taste of what Aotearoa can do against Australia, we didn't quite see how the bowling attack deals with pressure against quality batsmen though. We didn't get deep enough into Australia's innings to see Neesham, Anderson and Santner bowl, which is crucial to the make up of this team. Expect Aotearoa to roll out the same team, although I wouldn't sleep on Jeetan Patel being brought in, bowling early against Hales and Jason Roy, if there's no cloud cover or any seam-assistance from the pitch.

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