When the Nice Guys Do Finish First
New Zealand were crowned the first ICC Test Champions when they beat India in Southampton despite the poor English weather, the billions of dollars of Indian cricket money and in fact the ICC themselves and their consistent pandering to the sports Big Three.
Even as someone who is British and has Indian heritage living in India, it was an emotional moment when Ross Taylor whipped the final boundary away to the leg side to give New Zealand victory over India by 8 wickets in the inaugural ICC Test Championship. This tournament, which ran over two years, was the governing bodies attempt to bring Test Match Cricket back to the forefront of the game and despite the poor english weather playing spoilsport and washing out over two days, the feeling is this one-off Test, did what was needed and brought alot of eyeballs back onto the longest form of the sport. New Zealand have won it and that is an anomaly in recent cricket where generally speaking the longer forms of the sport have been dominated by the the Big three countries of India, Australia and England.
These are the countries with the largest populations to pick from (Pakistan excepted) and crucially the most money brought into the game by crowds, advertising and TV rights. The last 20 years of Test Cricket has been dominated by first Australia, the England and arguably now India with only briefly South Africa and now New Zealand rising to provide some opposition. The last three ICC 50 over World Cups have been in these three countries with the host nation winning in 2011, 2015 and 2019 (albeit only just!). New Zealand crucially managed to get to the final in both 2015 and 2019. Perhaps that gives us an indication that something was building in the country.
For so long New Zealand and their players were only considered cricket’s nice guys. They played the game in the true spirit, got on everywhere they went and generally are the best blokes around. Sometimes to their own detriment when being aggressive to entertain the crowds, declaring early to ensure that a match isn’t a dead rubber or not kicking up a huge fuss when some bonkers rule costs you the biggest prize in the sport. Imagine if India had lost the World Cup final in 2019 to England like that? Can you? All hell would have broken loose.However New Zealand are the nice chaps. They don’t complain and they get on with it and the ICC and Cricket’s Big Three have always treated them like that. They come to the series and tournaments, are scrappy and win hearts but they aren’t supposed to win. Which is why yesterday was so lovely. They did win. And they won well.
Cricket is perhaps more of a meritocracy than most other sports. The fact is that the longer the game goes on for, the more likely it is that the better side will win. This means that generally speaking, the best side almost always wins Test matches, ODIs and that leaves T20 as the only real format where the underdogs get a fair crack of the whip. This makes sense if you think about the individual nature of the game means that the longer it lasts, the more chance good players have to right the wrongs of some of their team mates. Hence if a side collapses to 30/3, its likely to be less of an issue in Test matches than in T20s. Cream rises to the top in the long format and that is why you have seen the T20 game evenly spilt in World Cups with wins for England and India but also for Sri Lanka, Pakistan and West Indies (twice!). Indeed in that format, there will be many more people betting on the likelihood of winners outside the big three simply because of the shorter time the game goes on for and the relatively little time for recovery. Test matches are five days and this means that barring a few good series here and there, India, Australia and England almost always win at home and mostly do well away (unless they are playing each other). In this context, New Zealand’s win is even more impressive.
However it is no fluke. As I mentioned, the Kiwi’s qualified for the Final of the World Cup in 2015 and 2019. There is a big game mentality there and despite playing relatively few tests, they almost always win at home and have beaten both India and England in the last two years. They have some truly great players, in Kane Williamson, a shrewd captain who is a natural leader as a cricketer and a man and a seam attack to rival any in World Cricket. New Zealand have got to the final on merit and they certainly won it on merit with Jamieson man of the match for his fantastic bowling effort. India perhaps under-estimated their opponents, not playing any competitive warm-ups matches in England and picking two spinners in conditions that generally suit seamers but the truth is, the game was lost when New Zealand’s bowlers dominated the powerful Indian batting. The Kiwi’s neutralised India’s strength and from then on, it was catch up for Kohli and his men.
I read somewhere that New Zealand cricket makes about 10 times less money than the English Cricket Board. That must mean it makes about 100 times less money than the BCCI which is one of the richest sports organisations in the world. Money isn’t everything but it is alot. India’s rise to the pinnacle of cricket is based alot on the 30 year investment into a cricket mad country starved of success and heroes. Add that to a population of over a billion and you have the key factors for a dynasty, which may well come. New Zealand have likely postponed it not derailed it. For a country of barely 5 million people, they have shown that hard work and persistence does pay off some times.
The ICC and the Big Three boards are generally unfair to the Kiwi’s. When they play in England they usually only get two tests and when England tour there it is also usually two. India don’t travel there often and Australia haven’t played in New Zealand now since early 2016 and that two only two tests. Inspite of this, New Zealand and their players have managed to hold their own against this big three hegemony and long may it last. Cricket and Test Cricket needs competition outside of two or three marquee series. New Zealand have shown a model to Pakistan, South Africa and maybe West Indies, that if you set your house in order, money and might isn’t always going to win. Sometimes, the nice guys can finish first.
