Ben on...warm-up #2 in context

We should all be feeling much more confident after the warm-up against Sri Lanka. 285 batting first was a good, defendable total and the bowlers were able to recover from a big opening partnership by the Sri Lankans and take regular wickets while keeping the scoring from boiling over. The game demonstrates a couple of things that we would like to believe about the Black Caps, that our top order can really sparkle and that our bowlers can apply pressure and reap the rewards.

However, again it was just a warm up. Not every game is going to be as easy as that. After all, the Sri Lankans had rested Vaas and Jayasuriya and Malinga only got 4 overs.

But all the same, it is great to see the Black Caps back on track with just 4 days until their first real game of the tournament, the match against England, which is arguably their most important of the pre-knock out rounds.