KEY POINTS:
It just goes to show that Twenty20 has really arrived in our consciousness when, on the strength of two games, we could make such sweeping judgments about the fate of the Black Caps before the first one-day international against England.
This was a comfortable win, no question, but it maybe shows that we shouldn't base opinions or forecasts on what happens in Twenty20. Having said that, however, I am still reserving judgment on the Black Caps.
That's because of the pitch. England look a very useful side but they completely misread the pitch and did not play well at all. The Black Caps won't think this was a bad pitch - they'll love it to death - but it is a portable or "drop-in" pitch and it clearly hadn't been in long enough to be termed a quality pitch.
Drop-ins need time to be consistent and the Black Caps simply read the conditions and played to them better than England did last night.
I'm also withholding judgment because of the effects of the IPL and the ICL. Having Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram back last night meant a lot - and you could see that if we lose more senior players to the Indian leagues, we will again be back to the rabble we saw in the second Twenty20 match against England.
Young players like Tim Southee and Jesse Ryder coming through are great. They really are a glimpse of the future, but you wouldn't want to be playing any more than one or two of them in a side if you can help it.
Yet if more senior players are going to go to India, our lack of depth will be exposed again. We have to find a way to retain our senior and quality players.
We really only have about nine of those players and we have to keep 'em. Yet you can see the pressures lining up against us.
We have lost Scott Styris to test cricket now and that, too, is a glimpse of the future. That's because players like Styris, who was left out of the test team before he decided to call it quits, can increase their IPL contract value by being 100 per cent available for the Indian league.
The International Cricket Council and the IPL have agreed that players in the IPL can still - must still - represent their countries and keep to the Future Tours Programme.
All well and good - but millions have been spent getting players like Styris into a player pool. Now the owners of the IPL franchises will bid for them - and the value of a player who doesn't have to head off and play for his country makes players like Styris more valuable commodities and can also benefit his pocket.
You see, that too is a part of the future and, welcome though the Black Caps' win was last night, the future still worries me.
