If there is one thing Tom Blundell has done really, really super duper well, it's scoring runs in warm up/tour games. Which is exactly what you want from someone who has worked their way through the levels from domestic cricket to being around the Blackcaps and after scoring a 77 vs Australian 11 prior to the World Cup and 106 in a World Cup warm up game vs West Indies, then a 60 for Aotearoa 'A' vs England a month or so ago, Blundell's 57* against a Victoria 11 sets up up for another crack at Test cricket.

Blundell opened vs Victoria and is now set to replace Jeet Raval at the top of the order for the Blackcaps. I wrote about the weird process in getting to this point a few days back and now that we know Blundell will open, we keep trooping forward into this fresh situation. What I do need to point out though is that this was not Victoria's Sheffield Shield team as the Big Bash League takes over at this time of year and of the six Blackcaps batsmen who batted, then went back to the sheds, four retired and only two were dismissed.

Thus, celebrating Blundell's knock is slightly exaggerated. Some of these runs did come against Trent Boult, who bowled for the Victorians and dismissed Tom Latham, yet this was obviously a game designed to give the Blackcaps what they needed; especially given limited practice time with silly Aussie conditions dictating operations. Blundell scored runs in a tour game, where everyone except Latham scored runs and here we are, gearing up for Boxing Day.

Uploaded by NZC on 2016-01-07.

Having toured with the Blackcaps throughout the year, Blundell has had a limited diet of legit cricket games. Blundell did get through three Plunket Shield games leading into the England series, with scores of 82, 14, 6 and 12. The fact that Blundell does score runs in A/warm up/tour games should rule over everything though and Blundell worked his way into the Blackcaps squad via averaging over 40 in four of his eight First-Class seasons.

There aren't any trends in Blundell's Plunket Shield dismissals this season and my fascination sits with how Blundell will handle opening the innings against those Aussie seamers. Blundell may have opened for Wellington previously, yet the majority of the time Blundell operates as a middle order batsman and does so in a reasonably strong Firebirds line up. Fellow Blackcapper Kyle Jamieson snared Blundell's wicket in the only dismissal that feels like it can be raised in this conversation; good length, caught on the crease and nipping the ball away to get the outside edge.

How tight/loose Blundell is outside his off-stump will be a huge factor in what he produces in Melbourne. Unlike Latham, for example who offers a compact package, keeping his hands close to his body, judging deliveries accurately and sitting steady without grand movements, Blundell can tend to flash his hands at deliveries outside off, while also falling over slightly to deliveries angling into his pad.

I'm not trying to expose Blundell in any way, these are just observations among Blundell scoring a lot of Plunket Shield runs that cause my fascination because of how immense this test will be. There won't be many freebies outside off, the new-ball will be moving both ways and Australia would have done a splash of homework as well as quickly assessing Blundell's stuff on the field. Opening, against Australia at the MCG ... on Boxing Day is about as massive as it gets for any Test batsman and I can envision Blundell counter-attacking nicely just as much as I can see the Aussies zoning in on his off-stump with hostility.

We're going to learn about the Blackcaps in this Test and who/what they really are. They failed in the first Test and normal cricketing service between Australia and Aotearoa was repeated, now the stage is amplified and how the Blackcaps respond will offer great insight into what they are capable of. On top of that, we are now going to learn a bit about kiwi cricket as well in the Blundell opening the innings. This is a middle order batsman, who like most did pretty well against weaker opposition in Aotearoa (vs West Indies) and is now opening against Australia.

Is kiwi cricket really that good, that middle order domestic batsmen can flip into Blackcaps Test openers?

Is that our reality?

Daryl Mitchell scored runs on his Test debut, just like Blundell did. Just like Will Somerville and Ajaz Patel transitioned nicely from domestic to Test cricket. The recent record suggests the talent on the fringes of the Blackcaps is strong, perhaps a sign of a beautiful era for kiwi cricket and now Blundell serves as a low key guide in how we judge the wider landscape of kiwi cricket.

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Peace and love 27.