After a no-result and a loss to England, Aotearoa need to grab a win against Bangladesh first and foremost before hoping that the stars align for their passage through to the next stage of the Champions Trophy. This certainly isn't ideal, although it's not a terrible spot to be in given that Australia have had their first two games rained on and head into a must-win game against England without rolling through a full game. 

In their first two games, Australia bowled first and thus their bowlers have enjoyed plenty of work while we've got no idea as to what form their batsmen are in. Australia's bowlers bounced back nicely from their mediocre showing against Aotearoa and it looks as though they have settled on a strong attack to face England. Yesterday I highlighted how a cheeky leggy could be crucial to the success of England and South Africa as there's not a whole lot of help for the bowlers in England and Wales, so Australia gave Adam Zampa a start and he returned the favour with 2/13 @ 3.25 off his 4 overs against Bangladesh.

The Blackcaps need Australia to lose, yet I'm cautious to lean against an Aussie team in a must-win situation and that's amplified by the strength of their team.With Zampa in there, Australia have an attacking spinner while they also have Travis Head and Glenn Maxwell as spinners who fire in darts and restrict scoring, or try to. Mitchell Starc was on fire against Bangladesh with 4/29 @ 3.41rpo, skittling through Bangladesh's lower order and the seam trio of Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins should get another opportunity against the Poms.

Australia's batting line up kinda speaks for itself and even though we haven't seen them bat past 20 overs, they have oodles of quality. What I find interesting, especially from a kiwi perspective is that Head, Maxwell and Moises Henriques are crucial bowling options in making up the fifth lot of 10 overs and any extras, while they all bat inside the top-six. While Aotearoa appears to have moved towards having all-rounders who are equally as talented/mediocre with bat and ball, Australia have Henriques (No.4), Maxwell (No.5) and Head (No.6) playing as batsmen who can chip in with the ball.

England have two legit all-rounders in Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali. Stokes hit 48 against Aotearoa and took a wicket in both games, giving us a taste of what the best all-rounder in the world can do. Australia will view Stokes as a key wicket thanks to his powerful hitting and with Stokes coming in at No.5, he has plenty of time to take the game away from Australia if given a sniff. Stokes will then be used as a fifth bowling option, possibly sharing overs with Ali depending on what's required and as I reckon Australia's batsmen will be licking their lips at the prospect of a must-win game against England's bowling attack that looks rather tame apart from Rashid, they will certainly be out to smack Stokes around a bit and put pressure on his bowling.

This all-rounder situation is fascinating and hugely influential to the results of either game, which brings me back to the kiwis. I've got a positive feeling about Aotearoa vs Bangladesh, mainly because Neil Broom for example tends to only score runs against Bangladesh and against better opposition we have seen Kane Williamson rise like cream, so it's only right to expect the rest of the team to do the equivalent against Bangladesh. Bangladesh are likely to feel the wrath of Corey Anderson, Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell Santner.

That's if those three are selected. They have done little to demand further selection, although we're not seeing too much chopping and changing in team selection from any team thanks to the CT's hard and fast nature. I'd love to see another pure batsman or bowler in there for any of those three, especially after the Blackcaps have looked out of depth with the bat, then they couldn't slow England's scoring down even as they managed to take a few wickets. When you ask yourself what Neesham, Anderson and Santner have done to demand further selection, there aren't too many answers.

With the wider context of kiwi all-rounder depth in mind, I am eager to see these three all-rounders selected because I want to see who is willing to really demand that top-dawg spot. Right now we've got three talented all-rounders who don't come with much substance in the cauldron of international cricket, against quality opposition and now is the time for one of them to put the Blackcaps in the best possible position they can ahead of Australia vs England, with bat and ball.

Scott Kuggeleijn leads a pack of all-rounders that also features Adam Milne's developing all-round talent, who are eyeing up a Blackcaps spot. Assuming that the quality is there, I'm all for having two or three genuine all-rounders in the Blackcaps ODI and Test team as it's a possible point of difference that the kiwis need in international cricket. Right now though, we don't have one all-rounder who could be mentioned in the same conversation as Ben Stokes so let's not worry ourselves with the multiple all-rounder odyssey just yet.

It starts with a must-win game against Bangladesh, which may be too little, too late but as the Blackcaps move forward, this game will tell us a lot about which of these all-rounders can be a corner-stone of this team.

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