Looking back at the final match of the ANZ ODI Series v Sri Lanka, and with one eye on ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, BLACKCAPS head coach Mike Hesson has learned a lot about his side - and has found things to work on. At Westpac Stadium in the last match, his bowling attack once again faced the stiff challenge of Sri Lanka's top order and, pleasingly, managed to peg them back when they looked set to clear 300 by some distance.
"I thought the last fifteen overs were very good, and conceding only 75 from the last ten was a good effort in these conditions when Sri Lanka had wickets in hand.
"The fact that Tim came back and got us a couple of important wickets probably saved us about 40 runs - but at the top we just bowled too many poor deliveries. It's pretty simple! We have higher standards than that, and it's something we need to be better at," said Hesson.
Adam Milne was not considered for Thursday's match, but will be ready for Saturday's opener against Pakistan. Rotation of the five pace bowlers has been a feature throughout the series, and putting the players in a variety of situations has been the goal. At the World Cup, selection will be horses for courses:
"Our job is to get all five firing at the same time, so then we've got options. With the high volume of cricket here and leading up to the tournament we're getting close, and with those five we can chop and change the way we want to play and we'll continue to do that," said Hesson.
The heat has come on opener Martin Guptill - despite scoring 66 unbeaten runs in the abandoned match at Eden Park, he's suffered the ignominy of a couple of first ball ducks this series.
"Martin hasn't got a huge amount of runs recently, but we have a lot of faith in his ability. It's very difficult to get all your batsmen firing at the same time, we've managed to get five or six to where they're in the form of their life to degree, but Guppy still hasn't got there yet. We still know he's a good player. What he offered us in the field was outstanding and it shows he's still with us, he's still in a good space."
Pakistan are here to play two matches in Wellington tomorrow and in Napier on Tuesday, after the BLACKCAPS triumphed 3-2 in an exciting series in UAE in December. Conditions will be very different here in New Zealand, and the visitors struggled adapting against a President's XI, going down in both warm up matches.
The BLACKCAPS goal is clear: "We want to win the series. For a start. And we weren't as good as we needed to be with the ball yesterday, and we want to step up tomorrow with the bat, we want the top order to set that platform that's been so valuable for us," said Hesson.
