Why we Aussies should back the Black Caps

Cricket’s World Cup is a strange beast. It goes for too long. The format is wrong. There are too few elite teams, but too many games. It is a tournament designed with TV in mind, with organisers unwilling to schedule more than two matches on the one day.

These are common criticisms, some of which I sympathise with. But I also find them a little tiresome. This tournament may have been long, but it has also been epic. For all the presumed obsolescence of the one-day game, the World Cup has had a refreshing sense of consequence about it.

The games have mattered, to both players and spectators. Some, such as the semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa, and the group game between Australia and New Zealand, have been masterpieces of the limited overs format. Such cricket belongs in the same breath as phrases like ‘title fight’ and ‘heavyweight bout’.

As Sri Lanka (unsuccessfully) chased Australia’s mammoth total of 376 at the SCG earlier this month, Kumar Sangakkara looked like a man who believed he could climb that mountain. Batsmen have had a determined look in their eyes. With their beefed-up helmets and bats, they have resembled knights wielding broadswords.

One of the more cerebral treats of the tournament has been the high level of captaincy. MS Dhoni’s deployment of Ravi Ashwin against Pakistan, packing the leg-side field as the off-spinner bowled a middle-stump line to stop the batsmen scoring, was one of the principal reasons for India’s win in that match. Brendon McCullum’s introduction of the wily but evergreen Daniel Vettori to blunt Australia’s batsmen also worked wonders.

A World Cup title would, of course, mean far less to Australia than it would to New Zealand. Australians have come to regard winning as a right rather than a reward, especially where cricket is concerned. They are used to thinking of their country – which has won four of the 10 trophies – as the best cricketing nation on earth, and beating New Zealand would simply confirm that smug suspicion.

For New Zealand – perennial underdogs in everything but rugby – a maiden cricket World Cup is an entirely different prospect. It would be cherished, not just cheered, and would also be good for the game. As the smallest Test-playing nation by some margin, who knows when they will next find themselves in a final?

New Zealand bashing is a pastime Australians are famous for, but so is supporting the underdog. In the clash of these two impulses, it is the latter that should triumph. So, c’mon Aussies, forget the ‘as long as we beat New Zealand’ jingoism. Let’s all put on our Black Caps and support the Kiwis, if only just this once.