If only scoring runs was as simple as standing still and having fun, like all those over-complicated bio-mechanical youth coaches had to do was tell us all to stand still and have fun. Youth coaches earn a living by complicating something that seems so basic, while one of the best batsmen in the world shares his wisdom based on the premise of having fun. That's a bit like life, where us young folk get fed a whole lot of hooplah and perhaps if we all simplified it down to 'smile and be nice to each other', things would be a lot better.

That's apparently what happened to Colin Munro as he's flourished after truly adopting the B-Mac method, while also being given a clear role within this Blackcaps ODI team. Sure, Munro's been in sizzling form in this T20 series against West Indies but this only reinforces my belief that Munro shouldn't be playing T20 internationals, that he should be exploring the joys of the T20 landscape and challenging himself to replicate this in Big Bash League cricket. 

IPL and other T20 leagues are cool, yet BBL will mean that Munro won't be playing T20 internationals for Aotearoa over summer. I explore this more in my Mailbag video, the hard and fast version is that T20I rankings don't take into account those who are only playing T20 leagues and not T20I (like B-Mac); what's the point in being the best T20I batter and bowler of you are not doing that in all the T20 leagues? 

Cashing in financially is one thing, don't sleep on the fact that it's a lot easier to dominate West Indies in a T20 series than it is to dominate in BBL or IPL. Do you think B-Mac and Mitchell McClenaghan care about T20I rankings? Fuck no, they're out there in the trenches going toe to toe with the best T20 players regularly. 

Any way, watch that video because I explore these ideas in greater depth. This is all about Munro's standing in the ODI team, where the 'stand still and have fun' vibes are perfectly suited to his pinch-hitting role at the top of the order. Prior to this move, Munro was just another Blackcaps Battler who was in and out of the team, played in this role and that role, victim of Lesson's yo-yo and lack of clarity. Of course, Lesson should be praised for getting the best out of Munro, but Munro is a low key example of Lesson's man-management flaws as Munro was never given multiple series to suss out a role in the middle order.

Somehow everything comes back around to the farcical Champions Trophy performance, which did not involve Munro. Munro was given an extended stint in the Blackcaps last summer and while he wasn't overly spectacular, he wasn't any better or worse than many other Blackcaps batsmen used. After featuring for much of the summer and playing in the tri-series prior to Champions Trophy, Munro was completely overlooked for the CT squad.

Instead of Munro, Lesson went with their all-rounder fetish (Corey Anderson and Jimmy Neesham) despite a lack of evidence that this was a better option than Munro. They could have very easily played Munro as an opener if they had planned for it throughout the summer, yet they had also neglected any planning for their wicket-keeping situation and pulled Luke Ronchi into the squad, somewhat out of the blue (to play a pinch-hitting role that Munro is now doing).

While it's fun to think that Munro has adopted this new mantra and it's made him an international blaster, that's such a small aspect of the Munro yarn. Munro hasn't changed how he bats as he's been on the brink of owning a strike-rate over 100 in First-Class, List-A and T20 cricket for a few seasons now (needs a few Plunket Shield whacks to do the triplet), everyone who has followed Munro for a number of years knows how he bats. What has changed is that Munro has been selected in a role that suits him and he has been given clarity in what his job is.

Instead of fluffing around with Munro, he could have replaced B-Mac a few years back. Lesson did some mushrooms and came to the conclusion that it was best to give Munro freedom at the top of the order, which is lovely. Now I'm intrigued by what Munro can do with this opportunity as the World Cup lurks on the horizon.

Munro's job is to score quickly and risk is the brother of scoring quickly, this makes it very difficult to gauge whether Munro's successful in his execution or not. For example, we can judge Martin Guptill on how many 50+ scores he gets because his job is to see out the first 10 overs and in the process he'll put up a solid score - Guptill's not a pinch-hitter, he gets in and once he's in, he's smoking it every where. Munro on the other hand, could put up 20 off 7 balls and that's him doing his job; no one can be mad at Munro for getting out trying to hit a boundary.

We can only be mad at Munro if he gets out playing a defensive prod, or if he can't hit a boundary. I think we'll just know when this isn't working, it will be a feeling backed up by repeated failures. We certainly can't get caught in our feelings though, when Munro is dismissed playing a 'reckless' shot.

And that's where I'm rather cautious about Munro's future as an ODI batsman. His job is to score with a strike-rate over 100ish, Munro is effectively being asked to hit boundaries against the best ODI teams in the world and if Munro can do that; shit the bed he'll go down in history as one of Aotearoa's best. 

B-Mac is B-Mac because that's exactly what he did and Martin Guptill has a proven record of going large against the various ODI bowling attacks of international cricket. David Warner, Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock come to mind as very attacking opening batsmen, none of them have career strike-rates over 100. These batsmen have maintained their attacking instincts and been uber successful - all average over 40 - even as the world understands their schtick, all the bowlers know that these blokes are trying to smack them for boundaries. 

Can Munro execute his role as well as he has done when every opponent knows what he's trying to do, when there are specific plans conjured up to counter his strengths and expose his weaknesses? 

It's kinda bonkers to think that Munro can score at such a rate against different bowling attacks and with series against Pakistan and England coming up, we're going to level-up in seeing what Munro can do. Don't forget that these series are in Aotearoa and the next level-up will be when Munro strings together ODIs overseas. 

If Munro succeeds in this role and rolls all the way into and through the World Cup, we'll be dealing with a cricketing unicorn. That sounds like a fun journey to embark on and we are going to find out how easy/hard it is to stand still and have fun, around the world, against the cricketing world. In the process we may come to truly understand the prowess of Natty Mac.

Embark on this journey with me, under the guidance of our spiritual leader Natty Mac and hit an ad to show your support to such journalism.

Peace and love 27.