To call New Zealand dark horses has moved beyond cliché. Every tournament they show up, revel in the condescension and the absent expectation and perform well. For the second time in as many World Cups, they are finalists, following a semi-final for the ages. This time India, the behemoth’s behemoth, were seen off — and in some style.
Even at home, the Black Caps fly under the radar. “I don’t think it will change the No1 sport,” said skipper Kane Williamson in a wonderfully deadpan celebratory press conference. Not even five million people live in New Zealand, where rugby is more than just a national obsession. Williamson’s men are the quiet little brothers, leading a life lacking fuss.
That was evident when Williamson was asked about the steepling skier he took to catch Ravi Jadeja, playing the innings of his life, that turned the semi-final back New Zealand’s way with just 32 runs required. “[I was thinking] Just to watch the ball and catch it, which was nice when it stuck”.
Williamson leads a team in his own image: calm, quiet and classy — on and off the field.
Brendon McCullum’s team of four years ago were bolder, brasher and probably better, but underestimate this lot at your peril. New Zealand lost six World Cup semi-finals before going a step further four years ago. That experience will serve them well on Sunday.
So will their status as the kings of the close game at this tournament, winning four matches where the chasing team needed between 240 and 292. That requires every player pulling together. Against India, Matt Henry was the man of the match for his three for 37, but contributions came from everywhere.
“We pride ourselves on never giving up and understanding the game, knowing that if we put a couple of wickets on it can change everything,” said Henry. “This one had lots of ebbs and flows. We believed that if we got 240 on the board and bowled well, we have the skillset to do damage. With their world-class batting line-up, we had to be at our best — and we were.”
Williamson and Ross Taylor measured the pitch and scored the bulk of the runs, but as four of India’s top five shared nine runs, the true value of Henry Nicholls’ hard-fought 28 was shown.
Boult and Henry were relentless up top, but Mitchell Santner suffocated India and Lockie Ferguson did not let up. Jimmy Neesham took an extraordinary catch and Martin Guptill pulled off a remarkable run out, despite his awful batting form. Tom Latham caught well and Colin de Grandhomme boshed 16 off 10. It was a true team effort.
“That would have to be right up there,” said Henry, when asked if he had been involved in a better team performance. “When you look at the way we’ve played this tournament, we’ve been thrown lots of challenges and had to step up in different ways. That was a classic case. It was tough when we batted, but we soaked up pressure from world-class bowlers and got to a total that was defendable. Then it was over to the bowlers.”
That sharing of weight seems odd when you look at their stats sheet. The bowlers have been superb, which is why they win these low-scoring games, but the batting is reliant on Williamson, a genius utterly devoid of ego or indulgence.
He knows his importance — he is averaging 91, 50 more than anyone else in a team with only three players above 25 — so has slowed his scoring appropriately. His strike-rate (76) is from the 1990s, but his weight of runs are timeless.
With victory completed yesterday, the players and staff gathered on the Old Trafford outfield with their partners and parents, children and friends. It was a delightful, authentic scene: Williamson and Boult have been best mates since childhood in Tauranga; Taylor and Guptill are each other’s rock; while Nicholls’ brother is the media manager. It would be no surprise if they did the same at Lord’s, come victory or defeat. That is just the sort of people they are.
