Editorial: Nervous start for this fan

Brendon McCullum

I am so pleased the first few days of the Cricket World Cup are now in the past.

I was so nervous heading into Saturday's first match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka I could hardly sleep.

The Black Caps had a lot of pressure on them being touted as cup contenders, something they are certainly not used to. How would they handle the pressure?

Would they completely bottle it and get a thrashing?

I could hardly watch the first few overs, so I wobbled around my flat tidying with the radio on listening to the commentary, trying to take my mind off events.

When Brendon McCullum hit his first few boundaries and we made it to 30 without loss I sat down and turned on the TV.

Thankfully, I was treated to an awesome display of professional cricket by our boys.

As you can probably tell by now, I am a cricket tragic.

I am old enough to remember that every time New Zealand did something brilliant in the cricket world a few weeks later we would sink back to the depths of despair.

It was not too long ago we lost a one-day international series 5-0 to Bangladesh.

But from that first match beating of Sri Lanka I noticed things I have not often seen in a Black Caps side. Patience, control and calmness.

But most of all I watched a true "team" effort in every sense of the word.

Our top order proved it would be the match of any other nation in the tournament and showed skill and maturity when in a tight spot. Later on, they were able to finish the job with some power batting in the final overs.

As for our bowlers, it was another top performance to rival the team's batting. Daniel Vettori showed he still has what it takes and young Rotorua-born Trent Boult took two key wickets. Just awesome.

Now bring on the big guns.

While on the topic of sport, Rotorua was abuzz with action on the weekend with thousands turning out for the start of the Rotorua Bike Festival and even more at the Warriors pre-season clash against the Penrith Panthers.

It has been a bumper year so far for our tourism and events people and with Crankworx yet to come it's going to get even better.