Paul the psychic octopus has a serious rival: Herald's oracle Cricket got Black Caps and Australia results right

The Black Caps and Australia were triumphant - and so was Cricket Cricket.

The Herald's six-legged oracle predicted New Zealand would win against Sri Lanka in the opener of the 2015 Cricket World Cup and that Australia would defeat England.

It is a stunning start for the black field cricket, who lives at Butterfly Creek in Auckland, and announced this week via his media handlers that he was eager to call the big games.

READ MORE
Black Caps Cup campaign off to perfect start
Australia embarrass England at Melbourne

Will he eclipse the record of Paul the Octopus, the eight-legged German psychic that shot to fame during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and Richie McCow, the calf that pronounced on the 2011 Rugby World Cup? We'll have to wait and see.

Butterfly Creek animal keeper Roberto Lapinski said Cricket had been kept with dry grass to eat, so was keen for a drink. Because the insects could drown in water easily, they preferred to drink from oranges.

He placed two orange segments in front of Cricket sporting the flags for the competing countries on toothpicks.

The flag in the orange that Cricket went to drink from would be the victorious team.

Cricket spent a while deliberating when the New Zealand flag and the Sri Lankan flag were on show in front of him.

In a decisive move, he drank from the orange then hopped to the top of the New Zealand flag.

Cricket was more hesitant over the England and Australia flags. He went to the orange with the Australia flag, stopping to lick his feet along the way. Maybe he just did not want to see Australia win.

Butterfly Creek spokeswoman Katie Cameron said Cricket would be making his picks for all New Zealand and Australia games, and some of the more exciting match-ups from Pool B.

Everything you need to know about black field crickets

• Black field crickets are normally 15mm to 25mm in size.
• Females can be identified by a spike on the end of the abdomen.
• Only males can chirp or 'sing'.
• Field crickets die in winter, another reason why they love the summer sport of cricket.

For more coverage of the Cricket World Cup from nzherald.co.nz and NZME. check out #CricketFever.