Cricket World Cup: Team bring marketing manna after seven successes on the trot during cup

The New Zealand test and limited overs team have largely delivered consistency over the past two years with strong performances while maintaining a culture of humility. Photo / Mark Mitchell

At last, New Zealanders have a cricket team that is again marketable to the world.

Regardless of the semifinal result against South Africa, New Zealand will finish fourth or better in the one-day international rankings at the end of the World Cup; they are fifth in tests.

For the public, the New Zealand team's brand of controlled aggression has drawn a dormant segment of the fanbase back to grounds over the past couple of summers.

For New Zealand Cricket, an organisation which once appeared locked in a perpetual struggle to regenerate credibility, this team have been marketing manna.

For the International Cricket Council, an organisation adapting to the dominance of The Big Three (India, Australia and England), the New Zealanders are a bridge to a future which might still have a guest spot for those who achieve beyond expectations or with limited resources, like the West Indies in the 1970s and 80s, Pakistan in the early 90s and Sri Lanka in the first decade of the new millennium.

The New Zealand test and limited overs team have largely delivered consistency over the past two years with strong performances while maintaining a culture of humility. Nothing appears to be taken for granted, whether it's preparing for games or dealing with any off-field sense of entitlement which can inadvertently seep in with success.

The public have recognised this ethos and the support has flowed.

New Zealand fans love a winner but this team have drawn support on the basis of their methodology rather than blind patriotism. An example of this surge occurred before the West Indies quarter-final. The window dressing of a shop on Lambton Quay was filled with Black Caps-themed merchandise, forcing Super Rugby and All Blacks paraphernalia to fight for space elsewhere in the store.

To see our interactive click here: Who are the greats of one-day cricket?

The $130 World Cup replica shirts have almost sold out from the NZC website - the only option left is to squeeze into an XS. Even emergency stock has depleted rapidly despite enormous orders to cater for the World Cup. Sponsors are also lining up; brands such as ANZ, Tui and Ford must be thrilled with their prescient investment around the team.

The NZC boardroom table will be aware of the need to capitalise on this wave of bonhomie. The onus goes on them to leverage the success into more contests against the best cricket-playing - and cricket-following - countries such as India, Australia, England and South Africa. In the post "future tours programme" world, where bilateral agreements become the currency to sustain cricketing status, establishing those relationships are a priority.

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