Winning the World Test Championship as a lovely achievement for Aotearoa's Blackcaps. This marked the climax of a treacherous journey through self-awareness and development, plenty of mahi boiled down to six days and one trophy.
Monday 28 March, 1955. The New Zealand cricket team were bowled out for 26 in a Test against England in Auckland – to this date still the lowest ever score in a completed Test innings.
I hope the skies over Southampton were clear enough for the full moon to peak through and illuminate celebrations for the Blackcaps. T
The first round of domestic cricket contracts have been dished out and there is little movement between the teams again this winter as most promote from within.
Beneath the joy of Blackcaps vs India, England's T20 Blast roles on and a bunch of our favourite kiwi cricketers are already making a mark on the competition while a bunch more will link up with their teams after the World Test Championship Final.
Having dismantled England on their home turf, we now have a World Test Championship Final between the greatest cricketing nation in the world (India) and the best sporting nation in the world (Aotearoa).
Aotearoa's Blackcaps have played eight Tests against England since the start of 2015 with four wins, three draws and one loss.
It's a battle between the Ashes and World Test Championship for greater narratives, maybe ECB dramas sprinkled on top. All of which feels as though it is waltzing around the most notable yarn from this Test series; are we sure England is a superior cricketing nation than Aotearoa?
To understand what the Blackcaps are doing, we have to understand how they fit into the Test cricket landscape and nothing about Test cricket is fair.
Doing it in your own conditions is one thing, doing it in foreign conditions is another matter. Taking on batsmen and bowlers in their own territory. Meeting them where they eat and beating them.
The Niche Cache loves Ross Taylor - he is Aotearoa's leading run-scorer in Tests and ODIs after all.
Top-tier Blackcaps batsmanship has been in a fruitful wee period and a Test team featuring many of Aotearoa's best cricketers ever has created a hearty group of batsmen who have been enjoying the slow cooking process.
BJ Watling is a stats man. Whether he himself cares about the numbers all that much, dunno, but he’s one of those players whose excellence is right there for all to see on his Cricinfo profile.
Otago Sparks weren't much of a funky force last summer.
Despite the chaos in the world, Aotearoa cricket matters are fairly settled and we're entering the build up phase where energy is being concentrated for the Blackcaps blossoming in England.
Just eight weeks after the Junior Fa fight, on the opposite side of the world working with a brand new trainer... Joseph Parker was able to dish up a split decision victory over Derek Chisora in Manchester and that W is by far the most important thing.
During the week it was reported that Wellington Firebirds had snapped up Nathan Smith from Otago Volts for the upcoming summer.
It wasn’t all that long ago that Joseph Parker was sitting at a press conference in Auckland, Kevin Barry to his side, answering questions about his unanimous decision victory over Junior Fa. It was pretty much just two months ago.
The demands on the modern cricketer are pretty hefty. Bouncing around the world from team to team, from format to format, from domestic to international, from red ball to white ball. Expected to smoothly transition between all of them and perform at a high level throughout.
The least fun thing about summertime cricket in Aotearoa may be the lack of spin bowling.