TAB: Gamblers banked on a Black Caps win

Forty per cent of all bets on the outright tournament winner were on the Black Caps, newly-released data from the TAB showed. Photo / Rick Rycroft

Kiwi punters were on the ball when it came to guessing which Black Caps bowling star would shine at the World Cup, but weren't so accurate with the batsmen.

Local gamblers banked on their faith in the Black Caps, massively favouring New Zealanders over fancied foreign players at the TAB.

Forty per cent of all bets on the outright tournament winner were on the Black Caps, newly-released data from the TAB showed.

Kiwi fast bowler Trent Boult attracted a whopping one-quarter of all "top wicket taker" TAB bets during the Cup.

Boult took 22 wickets during the tournament. Only Australia's Mitchell Starc equalled that achievement.

Among punters, Black Caps bowler Tim Southee followed close behind Boult, pulling roughly 15 per cent of all bets for top wicket-taker.

Southee impressed commentators at the cup, taking 15 wickets and achieving the best bowling figures at any match. He ruined England at Wellington, taking 7 wickets for just 33 runs in front of an exuberant Caketin crowd.

Starc was most popular of the foreign bowlers among local gamblers, earning about ten per cent of all top wicket-taker bets. The tall Australian rewarded those one in ten punters. He had a better bowling average than Boult, taking a wicket for every 10.18 runs batsmen got off him.

On batsmen, punters were more equivocal, with no clear favourite like Boult.

Kane Williamson was most popular, attracting almost one in every eight bets for top-scoring batsman. Williamson hit the winning six against Australia in the Eden Park pool game, but didn't make the top ten for total tournament runscorers.

Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum was second favourite among TAB punters, attracting ten per cent of all bests.

It seemed gamblers underestimated Martin Guptill, who eventually scored 547 runs, more than any other cup player. Guptill only attracted some five per cent of all bets. A similar number of punters bet on another Black Cap, Ross Taylor.

Among overseas batsmen, local punters favoured India's Virat Kohli and South Africa's AB de Villiers. In hindsight, Kohli was a poor choice, coming just 21st overall. De Villiers notched up 482 runs to be the Cup's third-highest runscorer.

Meanwhile, five New Zealanders - more than any other nationality - were chosen for the official World Cup XI. They were Boult, Guptill, McCullum (picked as World XI captain), big-hitting batsman Corey Anderson and veteran spin bowler Daniel Vettori.

Starc and fellow Aussies Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell were also picked. Two South Africans, De Villiers and fast-bowler Morne Morkel, made the grade.

Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara was the only northern hemisphere player to make the World Cup dream team.

Brendan Taylor of Zimbabwe was chosen as 12th man.