What a time to be a cricket fan. What a time to be alive. How lucky we are to have a team this skilled, balanced and good looking.
New Zealand fans have spent years and years loving our team dearly but knowing in our heartswe were operating in a post-glory days phase. No longer. These are the days. A time far more glorious even than those great 1980s highs. Fourteen months ago I was asked to join the Alternative Commentary Collective.
We have followed the Blacks Caps all over the country. Eight smelly dudes, covering 25 games from a small sweaty caravan. We have watched from the boundary in ecstasy, enjoying unprecedented levels of caravan thickness as our team has gone from strength to strength. Our silly wee broadcast started with zero listeners on January 19, 2014 in Napier, growing exponentially to 600,000 by the time the greatest living ginger Martin Guptill blasted 237 in the weekend.
We owe every ounce of our success to the team we love.
Sir Mike Hesson and his boys have turned tits-up into triumph. Their names are burned into the souls of the nation: Baz, Guppy, Milne, Vettori, Steady the Ship, the Hairy Javelin, the Wonky Donkey, Lovely Trenty, Ross, Souuuuutheeeeee, McClenaghan-again-again-again, and the ladies' choice, Corey "Mills and Boon" Anderson. A few weeks ago the ICC banned our little ACC from New Zealand cricket grounds. It hasn't damaged our passion one bit. As they say "you can't dampen a fizzing bung".
Souuuuutheeeeee, the Hairy Javelin and Lovely Boulty. Photo / Getty Images
Which brings us to this day of days. I'm so nervous I can't eat, my two young sons are running round and round the house yelling "McCullum, McCullum, McCullum".
The excitement is almost too much to bear. Once again we hope and pray our team will do the unprecedented. But whatever happens, we fans have years of great cricket to look forward to from a fantastic group of players. This is the golden era. Enjoy every second. "Someone has to win this thing - it might as well be us."
