The lessons the All Blacks could learn from the Black Caps

I wrote last week about the All Blacks reconnecting with the public.

That got me thinking about the Black Caps and another World Cup that’s on at the moment.

New Zealand has reached its fifth consecutive Cricket World Cup semifinal, where they lost to hosts India by 70.

Despite the defeat, the public is unlikely to round on the team and there are a few reasons for that.

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Cricket, for starters, doesn’t matter to folk here as much as rugby does and so defeats are more likely to be greeted by a shrug of the shoulders.

The Black Caps also have runs on the board. In the last eight years, they’ve made two Cricket World Cup finals, been world Twenty20 finalists and inaugural World Test Championship winners.

They’re astonishing achievements, given how unlevel the world cricket playing field is. England, Australia and India really should be contesting every final going and yet these plucky little Black Caps inevitably find a way to intervene.

But I reckon there are two reasons – which the All Blacks could learn from – which mean the New Zealand men’s cricket team invariably get a pass from sports fans.

First, they largely play to their potential or even above it.

Playing to your potential doesn’t entitle you to success, but it definitely gives you a chance.

I’m not sure the last four years of All Black rugby has been characterised by individuals – or the collective – playing to its potential.

Whether that’s environment, coaching, mental toughness, I don’t know. But I think the difference between the two teams in that regard is striking.

Relatability is another thing the Black Caps have going for them.

Let’s take Trent Boult. Like many of his teammates, the majority of his income is not derived from representing New Zealand.

He is a freelancer for hire, who’s not even on a New Zealand Cricket retainer.

Does he care less? Have his skills diminished? Is the team suffering for only being able to utilise his services on a part-time basis?

Doesn’t seem so.

New Zealand Cricket can’t compete with the wages players can earn elsewhere, so doesn’t attempt to. It sends players to tournaments, such as the Indian Premier League, with its blessing.

I think there’s something in that for New Zealand Rugby to ponder.

But that relatability comes back to a couple of things.

When Brendon McCullum became Black Caps captain, he quickly realised the team were dicks whose fans were embarrassed by them.

He made the necessary cultural shift and has successfully taken that ethos to the IPL and now the England test team.

If you’re humble, likeable and try very hard, you’ll win more fans than you lose. You might even enjoy doing it so much that you play well too.

Boult’s arguably our highest-paid cricketer and yet it’s not uncommon to see him turn out in Tauranga club cricket for Otumoetai Cadets.

Small gestures like that connect you to the grassroots game and your community and engender a great fondness from everyone involved.

How many All Blacks do that or even Super Rugby players, for that matter?

Cricket’s Super Rugby equivalents regularly return from four-day, 50-over or Twenty20 duties and slot straight back into the Saturday club teams that first put them on the pathway.

Rugby and cricket have different physical demands but – again – how many All Blacks have any connection to their clubs, even in a spectating or coaching capacity? Are they part of their communities or actively isolating themselves from them?

There’s a lot of rugby can learn from the way the Black Caps are run, contracted and encouraged to behave. In return, the All Blacks might receive similarly-unconditional support, rather than the criticism that comes with every defeat or poor performance.

The Black Caps, to me, are the embodiment of what New Zealanders hope to see in themselves and want to see from their sports teams.

They truly do punch above their weight and find ways to make do with much less than world cricket’s heavyweights have.

There’s something admirably Kiwi about that.