KEY POINTS:
In the light of events this week, here's something to ponder.
Once upon a time - okay, 32 years ago - Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar scored 36 not out during a World Cup match against England at Lord's. Just to rub it in, those were the days of 60-over games.
Gavaskar (or, as Billy "The 12th Man" Birmingham dubbed him in one of his early editions, 'Soonheelhaveascar') decided to put the crowd to sleep over a spat with his board.
A cussed little man, on and off the field, this was Gavaskar's form of protest.
The game be damned, he was going to show them.
A look at the scorecard shows England got 334 for four, and India were 132 for three at the end, Gavaskar having faced 174 balls. England opener Dennis Amiss made 101 more runs than Gavaskar off 27 fewer deliveries.
To show his other side, Gavaskar once laid into New Zealand in a World Cup game at Nagpur in 1987, again after getting the pricker with Indian officials.
This time, he chose the ballistic response.
He and opening partner Kris Srikkanth chased down New Zealand's 221 with a fury, the game being won in 32 overs. Wearing his other batting hat, Gavaskar plundered an unbeaten 103 in 88 balls. Even by modern standards, that was hectic going.
The batting efforts of New Zealand, in particular, and Australia at Eden Park and Seddon Park this week brought to mind a conversation with Glenn Turner when the great former opener was New Zealand coach at the 1996 World Cup on the sub-continent.
Talk got round to where the one-day game was heading.
Turner opined that the day would come when totals of 300 would become, if not ho-hum, then certainly far more commonplace than they were then.
If memory serves, the gist of his argument - and he would know - was that there was more room for development in batting than bowling in the ODI game. Certainly, reasonably recent innovations such as judicious use of slower deliveries and bouncers are with us but the sight of Brendon McCullum, Mike Hussey and Craig McMillan conjuring shots which were only to be imagined 10 years ago, bears Turner out.
By the finish at Hamilton, Hussey - who surely next time the national selectors say "fancy filling in for Punter this week?" will say "I'd rather tramp barefoot through the Amazon thanks" - had the look of a haunted man.
Imagine the Aussies' lot in the early hours of last Wednesday, sitting in Auckland's international terminal with only themselves for company and passers-by pointing and smirking.
Days like these are rare for New Zealand cricket. Our winning percentage on the international stage is good but not spectacular, so occasions like this should be savoured.
To produce the second and third best ODI run chases in 36 years of the limited-overs game in the space of three days beggars belief.
It tells us a couple of things: the Aussies are in deep doodoos a couple of weeks out from their World Cup defence (remember, even if Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist had been here, it defies belief that Australia would have bettered their back-to-back 336 for four and 346 for five); and New Zealand are back in business.
But John Bracewell and Stephen Fleming will realise it's going to be tricky winning a World Cup by the unusual method of spotting their opponents a 300-plus run start each game.
It was right to celebrate a staggering week but the batting heroics of Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton and the two Maccas should not disguise the fact a fair dollop of tripe was served up to Australia's batsmen.
Still their lot weren't any better - and now Brett Lee's a goner.
Of the two teams, whose shoes would you rather be in now?
Different ones, I'd suggest, from a couple of weeks ago.
