As a junior cricket coach, I can tell you that player bases for cricket players are not large. Certainly not in the regions. They are much smaller than rugby, for example.
One weekend, I consoled a junior player who was out for a duck with the words "... it's OK, Black Caps get ducks too". He replied "But Craig, the Black Caps aren't that good!"
At that point in time, they weren't having the greatest of runs, let's say.
Other countries have more players, therefore more talent to choose from, therefore stronger teams. That's the theory, but this summer the Black Caps have blown that out of the water.
Rather than rely on individual players, we now have several players capable of performing at the highest level.
To beat the Indian team in a test series at home is an achievement that should rate alongside the country's greatest sporting achievements.
Fans will remember Brendon McCullum's triple century, but they should also not forget the medium-fast consistency of Northland's Tim Southee, Corey Anderson's Queenstown job interview for the IPL that earned him $866,000, the emergence of Kane Williamson as a top No3, and the transformation of Ross Taylor into a consistent top-order batsman.
The current Blacks Caps side is a team, one that plays for each other, for their country.
They have also become a source of pride and hopefully more of our kids will add Black Cap to that childhood aspirational goal of "what I want to be when I grow up".
