Jacob Oram: Black Caps will win Cricket World Cup final

Black Caps bowler Trent Boult gets the wicket of South Africa opener Hashim Amla. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Opinion

I think the Black Caps will win Sunday's World Cup final.

I don't usually make bold statements like that, especially as this was written before knowing Australia would be their opponents, but there are many factors that make me confident.

The first reason is the skill level of the players in the side.

The top four of Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor is as good as any in the game, as are the seam bowlers led by Trent Boult and Tim Southee. Then add in veteran Daniel Vettori. The nucleus is made up of world-class players and the likes of Grant Elliott, Luke Ronchi and Corey Anderson have all produced match-winning efforts.

It's easy to say the leadership of coach Mike Hesson and captain Brendon McCullum prompted the turnaround of the past couple of years - and they have played a significant part - but we have some damn good players at the moment. You can't go out and play aggressive, winning cricket unless you have the personnel.

The second reason I'm so positive is the confidence within the side. It's a cliche, but winning breeds confidence and the self-belief in the side must be sky-high.

If you're playing really well and confident, there's a feeling you can win from any situation. That's something this team have displayed not only in this tournament but in the past couple of years.

Take this summer, for example. In Dunedin against Sri Lanka, they slumped to 93 for five but ended up with 360 after Ronchi and Elliott both hit centuries. Likewise, in the second test in Wellington, they were well behind after the first innings but scored 524-5 declared in their second dig (Kane and BJ Watling put on a record partnership) before rolling Sri Lanka in their second innings.

Players will look around the dressing room and know that if they fail, someone else will step up - they will have their back. And that's a really powerful thing.

The third thing, and this is a little more abstract, is that a lot of the time when champions are crowned or world titles won, it's written in the stars. Sometimes it's meant to be, and I get that feeling about this team.

The biggest battle for the Black Caps on Sunday will be the mental challenge. They will all be nervous but they need to find a way to control those nerves and try to play their natural game.

There's a reason they have made it to the final and they need to continue to play the way they have. If they play to their ability, New Zealand should go in as slight favourites.

The Black Caps have talked about the final being "just another game" and staying in the zone or the moment but it's a difficult thing to achieve when 90,000 people are going nuts and it comes down to the wire.

But they have won so often over the past couple of years that they have proven they can overcome that hurdle. Even when they needed five runs off two balls against South Africa the other night, I had a feeling they would do it. They would find a way.

I'm a little envious of the guys. This is the biggest game of their lives because you don't get a bigger stage than this. A test at Lord's or playing in a World T20 final is an amazing experience but it doesn't compare.

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