Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson, Ajaz Patel and Neil Wagner have featured in some of the Black Caps' greatest moments of recent years. Photos / Photosport
Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson, Ajaz Patel and Neil Wagner have featured in some of the Black Caps' greatest moments of recent years. Photos / Photosport
Marking the 20th anniversary of the Backyard Cricket podcast, co-founder Paul Ford shares the collective’s greatest memories of following the Black Caps.
5. T20 World Cup Final, 2021
New Zealand 172/4
Australia 173/2
Australia won by 8 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
The Backyard Cricket team’s regrettable insistence that NewZealand went into this match as the favourites resulted in the consumption of a slice of humble pie as big as Man of the Match Mitchell Marsh’s bison-sized head.
We had dared to dream that New Zealand could be the T20 World Cup champions, but the glory evaded us (until the White Ferns did the deed magnificently at the women’s edition in 2024), despite a valiant 85 off 48 balls from Kane Williamson. A gutting loss but nothing compared to the World Cup finals in 2015 and the-game-that-shall-not-be-mentioned in 2019.
Backyard Cricket podcast hosts Jason Willis, Kevin Sinnott and Paul Ford.
A slow, grinding, dread-filled, anxiety-inducing test victory in the gloaming of Hagley Oval, decided by the last ball of the match. The carnage and chaos at the end of the game will stick long in the memory as Kane Williamson dived through for a bye to beat a run-out attempt, accompanied by a hobbling Neil Wagner nursing a bulging disc in his back.
It was also cited by a listener as evidence of DazBall – the belligerent batting and high cricket IQ of Daryl Mitchell playing a huge hand in getting New Zealand home.
3. NZ beat England, 2023
England 435/8d & 256
New Zealand 209 & 483
New Zealand won by 1 run
The final act of this nailbiter was the Neil Wagner Show at the Basin his lionhearted performance punctuated by guttural roars ended five pulsating days of cricketing theatre and reminded us of the power and glory of test cricket. This was one for the ages: a win to New Zealand by a single, solitary run over a marauding England team to become the fourth team in history to win a test after following on.
This was the type of game that gets test cricket into your bones, seeping into your pores, and makes us realise how much we love it. New Zealand never felt like they were going to win until the final ball was bowled (Wagner), feathered (Anderson), and caught (Blundell).
Neil Wagner shows his passion after snaring a wicket. Photo / Photosport
2. NZ beat India, 2024
New Zealand win series 3-0
We revelled in the afterglow of New Zealand’s greatest-ever test series victory: an extraordinary, unfathomable and mind-blowing 3-0 whitewash over India. Even better was that the Black Caps were not even lucky – they outplayed India comprehensively: navigating deliberately tricky conditions, India’s intimidating record, and a raft of injuries to out-bat, out-bowl, out-catch and out-think cricket’s commercial colossus.
Three consecutive wins over three weeks: each more extraordinary and unexpected than the one before. It felt so good we cried with joy as New Zealand delivered India its first-ever down-trou 3-0 hiding and low-key harpooned the biggest test series upset in the history of the game.
Ajaz Patel celebrates bowling his side to victory. Photo / Photosport
1. World Test Championship, 2021
India 217 & 170
New Zealand 249 & 140/2
New Zealand won by 8 wickets
Unpatriotically prepared to see New Zealand fall at the final hurdle, we in the Backyard Cricket podcast team were absolutely losing our minds as New Zealand stunned India to take home the World Test Championship mace in their hand luggage from Southampton.
“Did you ever think you’d see this happen in your lifetime?” Jason Hoyte asks. “No,” said Dylan Cleaver matter-of-factly. After so much disappointment and pain – and 90 years of grinding away at test cricket – this was a cathartic, heart-warming result. The arc that began with the nadir of 45 all out in South Africa in 2013 was completed with this triumph: an endorsement of the resilient, calm, sledgeless, gracious, humble, joy-filled approach that characterised the Baz/Hesson and Stead/y the Ship eras.
