STAND AND DELIVER

It’s a comfortable narrative to ease into: New Zealand’s plucky underdogs seeking to slay world cricket’s giants, India, to win their first world title in 21 years.

On one side, a country of 1 billion where cricket is the national obsession, its board the sport’s most powerful with an annual income of nearly $800 million, compared with the little nation of 5 million with just 20 annually contracted men’s cricketers and six first-class teams whose players are unpaid over winter. New Zealand Cricket’s revenue last year: $60.6 million.

For all that, victory for Kane Williamson and his Black Caps in the inaugural World Test Championship

final against Virat Kohli’s India at the Ageas Bowl, near Southampton, starting tonight (9.30pm NZT), would not be a major surprise.

Bookmakers installed India only marginal favourites in what looks a 50-50 contest.

Victory over the next five days (potentially six, with a reserve day scheduled and rain forecast) would be this New Zealand team’s most significant result.

Yes, a handful of tests have been won in Australia, England (as recently as last week) and India, but on a world stage with the white ball it’s a painfully short list.

The only Black Caps title saw captain Stephen Fleming hoist the ICC Knockout Trophy in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2000. Two years ago Williamson’s men stormed Old Trafford, Manchester, in their black kit and booked their place in the Cricket World Cup final.

The losing side both times? India, containing some of their alltime greats Tendulkar, Kumble, Dhoni and Kohli. They may be cricketing rock stars, but there’s no intimidation factor for the New Zealanders.

This is a different cricketing format, too. Its purest, said by some to be nearing extinction amid the Twenty20 onslaught, with players still wearing whites and cable-knit jerseys and pausing for tea in the afternoon. In 150 years of test cricket, never has a world title been contested.

The WTC was designed to provide context for test cricket and while its format looked unfair, with some series not played amid Covid-19, what do you know: the sides ranked No 1 (New Zealand) and No2 (India) on the International Cricket Council’s test rankings will meet in the decider.

Up for grabs is the ICC mace and prizemoney of $2.25 million to the winners and $1.13m to the losers. A draw, and the title and cash are shared, with no obscure countback rule to foil fans as it did after a pulsating World Cup final against England.

The Black Caps made the final via six straight wins at home, with a leg-up from Australia’s slow over rate against India in the Boxing Day test. That saw Australia docked four vital WTC points, otherwise it was Tim Paine v Virat Kohli this week.

Instead Williamson and Kohli – friends off the pitch and two of the world’s premier batsmen – will flip the coin at Ageas Bowl, chosen over Lord’s as the best biosecure venue in the UK. Both teams were housed at the Hilton Hotel overlooking the pitch and kept apart until match day: India on the third floor directly above the Black Caps.

Crowd restrictions mean around 6000 per day allowed in. UK-based Kiwis have scrambled for tickets with assistance from team management, and healthy

This will be New Zealand’s strongest XI over their 90 years of test cricket. No question.

New Zealand support is expected in a paredback atmosphere.

How can the Black Caps win it? On form they’re near unstoppable, having dusted themselves off from a 3-0 hammering by Tim Paine’s Australia in January, 2020, and won seven of their next eight tests including both against India the following month at home.

The tag ‘world class’ wasn’t often applied to more than a few New Zealand cricketers; now it can be safely used for nearly the entire XI. Add in two gamebreakers – towering allrounder Kyle Jamieson who stunned India on debut, and opener Devon Conway whose double-century at Lord’s rewrote the record books – and this will be New Zealand’s strongest XI over their 90 years of test cricket. No question.

If the English Dukes ball swings generously for Tim Southee and Trent Boult, it sparks uncertainty for India’s batsmen who quelled Australia’s fast bowlers when the Black Caps couldn’t. Neutral ground eases it New Zealand’s way, too, conditions more akin to home than India’s dustbowls.

India have an imposing top-six including rising star Rishabh Pant who slayed Australia at Brisbane to seal their place, and a pace attack nearly the equal of New Zealand’s spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma. Plus the spin of Ravichandran Ashwin, up with Nathan Lyon as the world’s best tweaker.

Spin may be a factor later, but the bowling attack who can exploit the swing, and the batting lineup who can defy it, should win.

On both counts the Black Caps are well equipped, fresh off a 1-0 series win over England, a vital lead-in that could prove to be telling.