James Milton: New Zealand's sporting prowess should inspire underdogs across the globe

In the novel 'Crime Story' by New Zealand writer Maurice Gee, a character named Ulla muses: "So much that little countries do is good, but then not quite good enough. It is sad."

Gee's book was published 25 years before his cricketing compatriots' harrowing defeat to England in the 2019 World Cup final at Lord's. So much that the Black Caps did at that tournament was good but a combination of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, horrendous luck and the little-known boundary-countback rule meant it was not quite good enough.

Any lingering sadness surrounding New Zealand cricket has been dispelled by a couple of extraordinary successes in the past month.

On October 17, their men's Test team bowled out India for 46 in Bengaluru before reaching 180-3 at stumps. That astonishing start to the first Test set the Kiwis on their way to a sensational 3-0 clean sweep in a country where they had won just two of their previous 36 matches – in 1969 and 1988.

Three days later, New Zealand's women eased to a 32-run victory over South Africa in the T20 World Cup final in Dubai. The White Ferns had been 25-1 in the ante-post betting after losing 4-1 and 5-0 to England and 3-0 to Australia in their previous three T20 series.

When you consider that only Erling Haaland has scored more Premier League goals than Nottingham Forest's Auckland-born striker Chris Wood, it's not been a bad spell for a nation of 5.3 million people who are only supposed to care about rugby. 

What is New Zealand's secret, then? One answer may be that they have converted a potential weakness – a limited pool of talent – into a strength.

They are big on team culture, from the All Blacks' famous 'no dickheads' policy to Brendon McCullum's 'chilled-out entertainer' vibes as England's Test coach.

That small pool of elite talent promotes unity and a sense of belonging, often fostered by family ties or shared experiences at youth-team level. 

Kane Williamson, Tim Southee and Trent Boult, three of New Zealand's modern-day greats, played together at the 2008 Under-19 World Cup. In one game, Boult and Southee bowled out Malaysia for 47 and Williamson finished unbeaten on 27 in the run-chase. 

Tom Latham, who captained the team in India, is the son of former Test batsman Rod and sporting dynasties are at the heart of Kiwi success.

Two of Sir Richard Hadlee's brothers also played Test cricket and their father, Walter, captained the side on a glorious 1949 tour of England.

Michael Bracewell earned his first Test cap against England at Trent Bridge in 2022, following in the spiked footsteps of his uncles John and Brendon and his cousin Doug.

And brothers Beauden, Jordie and Scott Barrett made history at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, all starting – and scoring tries – in the All Blacks' pool-stage demolition of Canada.

New Zealand's triumphant Women's T20 World Cup squad featured the Kerr sisters - player of the tournament Amelia and her elder sibling Jess. Their parents both played cricket for Wellington and their grandfather, Bruce Murray, opened the batting for New Zealand between 1968 and 1971.

Of course, New Zealand's sporting success should not be mired by the 'nepo baby' tag. Devon Conway and Glenn Phillips, two stars of the India tour, were born in South Africa while Wellington's Rachin Ravindra scored a brilliant century in Bengaluru, his father's hometown. And spinner Ajaz Patel, who emigrated from Mumbai as a child, has now played two Test matches for New Zealand in the city of his birth, claiming a ridiculous tally of 25 wickets.

Parochialism is rarely a positive trait in sport or in wider society. However, New Zealand's ability to produce world-beating sides who retain a village team's sense of fun and camaraderie should be an inspiration to "little countries" across the globe. 

And the 1,000-1 about their footballers winning the 2026 World Cup is still freely available …

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