Tauranga cricket fans gearing up for World Cup face-off

Tauranga cricket fanatics will be bowled Monday morning after an all-nighter watching the Black Caps' shot at the World Cup title.

The International Cricket Council World Cup final will take place this Sunday night (NZT) between the Black Caps and England.

Two of the top players in the team, Kane Williamson and Trent Boult, were both born and bred in the Bay of Plenty and fondly remembered by past principals and coaches.

Former Northern Districts coach James Pamment worked closely with a number of the boys in the current Black Caps team, including Williamson and Boult.

Residing in Pāpāmoa, he said he was thrilled for the boys and had seen both of them develop into incredible cricketers.

He said he had coached Williamson from age 15 and his work ethic made him a stand-out player.

Pamment still kept in contact with Williamson and Boult, along with other Black Caps, and had high hopes for them this Sunday.

Both Boult's and Williamson's families were on their way to London or there already to support the boys.

Dave Randell was Boult's principal at Otumoetai College more than a decade ago.

He said Boult was a keen cricketer all through high school and even when offered places on better teams, he always stayed loyal to the college.

He won the New Zealand fast-bowling champs in his last year of school, bowling a ball at 134km/h, which Randell said was fantastic for a high school-age boy.

A memorable moment for Randell was when Boult took away a special sports award in his Year 13 prizegiving and Boult said to him "if I make the Black Caps ..." and Randell stopped him and said "no mate, when you make the Black Caps".

After school, Randell wrote to Boult congratulating him on his various cricket achievements.

Tauranga Boys' College principal Robert Mangan remembers when Black Caps captain Williamson went to the school.

He said he and the Tauranga Boys' College community were proud of Williamson and his leadership on and off the field.

"He is an outstanding cricketer and leader who epitomises so many of the qualities we strive to instil in our boys."

He said he was looking forward to the country being the holders of the Cricket World Cup and holding an assembly welcoming Williamson and the team home.

Tauranga cricketer Tim Pringle said having local cricketers like Williamson and Boult in the Black Caps made his own goal of reaching the same level seem more attainable.

Pringle, who was this week in Australia as part of the New Zealand under-19 squad, holds the record for the youngest Bay of Plenty player on debut, aged 15 years and 92 days. He took that record from the Black Caps skipper who was 15 years 111 days.

Bay of Plenty Cricket manager Tai Bridgman-Raison said it was great to have two well-known local boys in the team and he hoped it would encourage more youngsters into the sport.

Black Caps fans Fraser and Gus Tustin. Photo / Andrew Warner.

Mount local Matt Tustin and his two boys Gus and Fraser, who both loved cricket, were excited for the big game.

Tustin said his boys had the luxury of no school the next day, but he would be grinding through work on no sleep.

"It's worth it, world cup finals don't come around too often."

Bars across Tauranga were planning to screen the game, but many were shutting at their regular closing time.

Rain bar and restaurant's Ryan Dippie said most of the coverage would be outside of liquor licensing hours and licences took a lengthy time to apply for.

He said it was a "hard one" because they did not want to miss it, but since it would start at 9.30pm, by 1am they would only just be getting through the first innings.