Lolz imagine if he said nah bo, it's actually Hong Kong for lyf.

Can you feel that?

It's the buzz, the hype wofting throughout Aotearoa's atmosphere as the call to select Mark Chapman in the Blackcaps T20 squad reaches undeniable status. When everyone knows something like this should happen, we are given a unique moment in which an athlete has demanded selection to such an extent that they can simply no longer be ignored and now, specifically, there's an opening in a Blackcaps T20 team that ain't truckin' along so well.

To view Chapman as any sort of saviour though is a bit crazy and highlighting that changes need to be made to this Blackcaps T20 batting line up, not only in bringing Chapman into the squad but also shuffling the batting line up around a wee bit needs to be viewed with some sense of logic. Especially when we ponder that the bloke keeping Chapman out of this Blackcaps T20 team is Anaru Kitchen and there's absolutely no reason why Kitchen should have been selected in the first place, ahead of Chapman.

Just as there was a severe lack of planning for the Champions Trophy, there was little to no foresight used in building a T20 team for this marquee event of the summer (which is kinda horrible to say). Chapman could have very easily been selected for the West Indies T20 series, then the Pakistan series and would have had the luxury of racking up a couple of games prior to the tri-series.

Chapman didn't need to have a dominant Super Smash to earn selection, because, well, Kitchen didn't. To select Chapman now, would likely result in Chapman not actually playing and sitting idle in the squad as it would be a wee bit rough to throw him into such a situation. He'd also likely be replacing Kitchen, who is sitting idle in the squad and I'm of the belief that those squad positions should fall to guys like Chapman to start with; get them around an international set up, around the lads, around the vibe, ease them into international cricket.

That level of foresight or planning as been absent since Lesson started wielding their power, so whatever. Whether it's the selection of Chapman, other squad changes, trippin' about Kane Williamson's innings or any other tinkering to this Blackcaps T20 group, over-reacting isn't high on my agenda right now.

The Blackcaps aren't very good overseas and are especially crappy in Australia, meaning that this was par for the course. They had a bad day and in T20 cricket, that can often be the deciding factor and don't get me started on anyone who talked about any sort of T20 rankings prior to this game which tainted their expectations. As the Blackcaps are returning to Aotearoa for the remainder of the tri-series, I'm not all that fussed if they re-up with this group and go again - Chapman in the squad would help spread good vibes and he could feature if the Blackcaps get smoked again.

In all honesty, I'm not that fussed about the performance/s of the Blackcaps and more concerned with what those performances mean for Lesson's T20 strategies. In the preview I wrote how Lesson had a very different selection pattern for this tri-series compared to Australia (very T20 specific) and England (large disparity between red ball and white ball cricket.

This is headlined by the fact that Steve Smith and Joe Root aren't playing in this tri-series, while Kane Williamson is.

I'm not sure how to describe the Blackcaps T20 selection vibe, other than it just not feeling like the best T20 cricketers from Aotearoa. It's a mix and match group, more along the lines of selecting the best cricketers from Aotearoa and trying to mould them into an international T20 team.

Maybe Mitchell McClenaghan is a better T20 bowler than Tim Southee?

Maybe Mitchell Santner doesn't have enough hitting power (max strike-rate of 129.77) to bat down the order in T20 cricket?

Maybe Colin de Grandhomme is the best kiwi T20 player at the moment and should be treated as such?

Maybe George Worker and Anton Devcich are better T20 options right now instead of Mark Chapman, or Martin Guptill, or Tom Bruce?

Maybe T20 cricket is Tom Bruce's weakest format? (He averages 42.02/71.38sr in First-Class cricket and 32.76avg/117sr in List-A cricket).

Maybe the likelihood of Colin Munro going big isn't all that high in international T20 cricket?

Maybe Aotearoa's T20 spinners are better than our T20 seamers, so why not select more spinners?

Maybe the Blackcaps should get a different T20 coach like Australia have with Ricky Ponting?

Whatever Lesson may be doing with the Blackcaps T20 group may prove to be successful and that would be lovely, I'm always happy to salute those who do so. Lesson have done little to suggest they will be successful though and they also have little experience in building a T20 group, as a BBL team would (not IPL 'cos there's no logic involved there).

Lesson have chosen their route and it's a different route to Australia and England. This is far less about our first looksie at Mark Chapman and more about the Lesson T20 experiment, which didn't get off to a great start but I'm fizzing to see how it unfolds over the next few weeks.

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Peace and love 27.