No. We’re not as good as we think we are

Thank you, Pakistan. What the heck for, you might ask? Well, for pouring water on what was fast becoming an arrogant and overly cocky fan base by finally fronting and beating the Black Caps in the recent T20 series.

There’s no doubt about it, this is a good New Zealand team and, if we were talking about an ODI series, there would be plenty of reasons to go running to the TAB to slap a few bucks on them to win the tri-series.

But not only did their T20 series loss to Pakistan shut the traps of the folks calling the current crop of Black Caps the country’s best ever, it tempered expectations as New Zealand enters what’s sure to be a difficult stretch of the home summer.

Just as well.

Flogging the hapless West Indies and dreadfully under-performing Pakistanis was all well and good while it lasted, but the two emphatic losses to Pakistan to close out the T20 series said it all: New Zealand are not as good as many people may have thought.

Death bowling and the makeup of the top order – just what is our best combination? – are the obvious red flags. Then there’s a seemingly new concern – fielding.

If Mitchell Santner, who is practically good for a drop a game, isn’t staying after training and asking one of the Black Caps’ coaches to pepper him with catches there’s something wrong.

To name just two shockers, Colin de Grandhomme and Tom Bruce grassed sitters in New Zealand’s 18-run loss in the series decider, while there was also a clear decline in the standard of ground fielding in the shortest form of the game.

Even Martin Guptill, the best fielder in the team, missed runout chances he’d usually take.

The combination of suddenly shoddy fielding and questionable bowling at the death is a concern, and was well and truly on show in New Zealand’s 48-run loss to Pakistan in the second T20, when New Zealand let the tourists score 201-4.

New Zealand dished up nine wides – many of them unnecessary, overly short bouncers down the stretch – and you couldn’t help but think some of the bowlers had never heard of a yorker when watching them fire down deliveries begging to be tonked to all parts.

Just watch the Poms and Steve Smith’s Aussies make the Black Caps pay if they rinse and repeat the same mistakes made in their most recent series.

Of course, Australia and England aren’t exactly teams to be feared right now. But take the fact they’re both ranked below Pakistan and New Zealand in the

T20 format with a grain of salt.

You can almost guarantee they’ll be better than Pakistan – a team which didn’t fire a shot in their first six games on tour – in the conditions offered up in this part of the world.

Let’s find out how good the Black Caps really are.