Cricket World Cup: Black Caps excel with 'team-first' ethos

Black Caps coach Mike Hesson. Photo / Paul Taylor.

The theme of selflessness is what impressed New Zealand cricket coach Mike Hesson most about yesterday's 143-run World Cup quarter-final victory over the West Indies.

Headlined by Martin Guptill's 237 from 163 balls, and underlined by Grant Elliott's 27 from 11 and Daniel Vettori's '36-year-old White Men Can Jump' catch at third man, New Zealand's performance was full of moments where expectations were exceeded, which enabled them to rise to the pressures of knock-out cricket.

New Zealand play their seventh semi-final in 11 editions of the tournament against South Africa at Eden Park on Tuesday.

The winner will play their first World Cup final, against either Australia or India.

Hesson said Guptill exemplified the team-first mantra in what he considered to be the best ODI innings he'd seen.

"The way he paced the innings by setting the tone early, playing straight, adapting to the conditions and timing everything from ball 30 on. It was pretty surreal.

"There were a lot of high fives and cuddles [in the dressing room]," Hesson quipped. "It was an amazing innings which we were immensely proud to watch.

"Players have been quite selfless putting their own milestones and targets behind what the team wants to do.

"The fact he [Guptill] got a hundred then a big hundred and one which determined the outcome of the game was most pleasing."

Guptill's acceleration was consistent throughout, making his first 50 in 64 balls followed by increments of 47, 23 and 18 balls for the next three 50 run brackets.

Elliott contribution at No 6 went largely incognito in the wake of Guptill's dominance, but he appreciated the licence to attack.

"It gets to a point in game when there aren't too many wickets down and you can have a bit of fun. The top order batting did so well that we had wickets in the shed. There's no point being 400 for two if you can be 430 using as many wickets as possible."

Hesson also noted the freakish nature of Vettori's catch of Marlon Samuels for 27 off 15 from the bowling of Trent Boult.

"I didn't think 36-year-olds could jump that high. From our point of view [in the team hutch], I thought it was going over and he'd made a bit of a token jump, but obviously there was more to it."

Elliott said it had been a source of team mirth.

"He [Vettori] said his son said he didn't jump that high on the trampoline ... and there have been a couple of NBA photos going around."

Hesson said the team's 2-0 ODI loss to South Africa at the start of the summer did not leave them daunted for Tuesday.

"That was at the start of a six-month campaign and South Africa were better prepared than us for those fixtures. In September and October the pitches are different, we'd come out of a winter, they'd come out of a campaign. They hit us hard early and we didn't respond well. We're more match hardened now."

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