KEY POINTS:
For what we have received we can thank... Adam Gilchrist. We're not talking about the fact the Australian vice-captain was absent for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, undoubtedly contributing to New Zealand's first blackwash of our neighbours.
Instead we're celebrating the fact his rewriting of the rules about being a wicketkeeper-batsman has led to the most dynamic crop of clubbing glovemen the game has ever seen.
At the head of that queue is Brendon 'Baz' McCullum.
You could mount a compelling argument that McCullum's 86 off 91 deliveries was the best New Zealand innings of the summer.
Sure, McMillan and Jacob Oram scored more off less but neither got New Zealand across the line. McCullum did so spectacularly in a knock that had more layers than an onion.
When he came to the crease at 116-5, he had to ensure he didn't contribute to New Zealand's collapse. Then he had to nudge and nurgle McMillan on to strike as the Cantabrian unleashed his pyrotechnics.
When McMillan departed with 65 still required, he had to nurse the tail. When Mark Gillespie defied instructions to give McCullum the strike, he went with the flow. And finally, when a hero was needed, he played the most audacious shot of the match to tie the scores.
Although he was probably only No 3 on the voting list, McCullum was by definition the man of the match.
The fact it came after a match-sealing effort at Auckland on Sunday (22 not out) has enhanced his reputation as one of the best 'closers' in the game but in truth McCullum could bat anywhere between No 1 and 11 with success.
Like several wicketkeepers around the world - Mark Boucher, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gilchrist - they've allied glovework with aggressive batting to become the fulcrum of their teams.
The days of the specialist keeper who might chip in with the odd useful innings are gone.
"You have to first acknowledge that Adam reinvented the wicketkeeper-batsman's role," McCullum says. "He set the pace as to what was required around the world and the rest of us are just following suit."
Despite the fact Gilchrist's numbers are slipping as age wearies him, McCullum says the Australian is still the benchmark the rest look up to.
"Without a doubt. He redefined it in terms of the contribution he was making. He is the heart and soul of the Australian team. The role he performs for them in terms of wicketkeeping and scoring the bulk of their runs makes us keepers want to make a bigger contribution to our side.
"I don't necessarily look at Adam and try to better what he's doing because as an opener, his role is so much different to mine. But I do look around at the contribution each of us keepers is making to our sides and see how I can increase my contribution to New Zealand."
One of the great debates of the upcoming World Cup will be centred on who is cricket's best wicketkeeper-batsman.
Most Kiwis would vote for McCullum out of a sense of loyalty but he wouldn't vote for himself. Gilchrist, he believes, still leads the way with the bat, despite a strong challenge from Sangakkara.
"I'd still definitely put him as the best of the batsmen."
The keeping aspect is a lot harder to separate. Although the runs are great, keepers derive most satisfaction from mistake-free performances behind the stumps.
For example, McCullum will remember his dropped catch off Rahul Dravid at the previous World Cup, a spill that could have changed the game, a lot longer than he will remember the fact he scored only four runs in the same match.
"I'm not too sure who's the best gloveman. I think Mark Boucher's glovework over the past couple of years has been outstanding. It's been right up there. Again, you've got to look at each individual's role in the side. Look at a guy like Kumar, who has to keep to [Muttiah] Muralitharan, [Lasith] Malinga and [Chaminda] Vaas. You sort of think he must have a bit of natural ability there that the rest of us might not have.
"But you put him behind a stock standard attack and who knows how he would go?
"Everyone is very strong in their own home conditions firstly but we're all getting better across the board when we go into overseas conditions.
"I wouldn't necessarily put any of us apart with the gloves but there's definitely a strong contingent of keepers going at the moment."
As for McCullum's role with the bat, he seems resigned to the fact that his success in recent games will consign him to the No 7 role for the foreseeable future, or the World Cup at least.
"If there's an injury or something, I'm always happy to go back up the order," he says.
But in a season where every one of New Zealand coach John Bracewell's decisions has been second-guessed and pulled apart, moving McCullum back down to No 7 after a short and inconclusive spell as an opener might be one of his best.
Certainly, if the results of the past week are any sort of evidence, it's a masterstroke. Even Gilly would have been impressed.
