One of great unexpected yarns in NZ sport

ConfettiI falls as the New York Liberty celebrate during the WNBA championship title ceremony in New York. PHOTO: REUTERS

Fabulous Ferns

Well, of course I did not see that coming, and neither did you.

The White Ferns were not exactly a shambles heading into the T20 World Cup — that word is better suited to basket cases like Manchester United or the Crusaders — but they had been extremely poor for a while.

Naturally, they win the key pool game (against India), strike a bit of luck by not having to play England or Australia in the knockout rounds, and play good cricket at the right times to charge to glory.

They make a heck of a story, one of the great unexpected yarns in New Zealand sport.

T20 is the candy floss of cricket, a fleeting delight, but you have to think the excitement generated by this success will have some sort of effect on the development of the women’s game, which is still fairly weak at the grassroots.

My lasting memory will be the look on the face of one of the White Ferns’ old stagers.

I first interviewed Suzie Bates when she was a teenaged basketballer in pigtails, and it is so wonderful to see the cricket great become a world champion.

Unexpected success I

While the White Ferns’ victory was a bit of a shock, it does not fit into the absolutely elite level of sporting miracles.

That includes things like Kiwi winning the 1983 Melbourne Cup, the All Whites qualifying for the 1982 World Cup, Michael Campbell winning the 2005 US Open, the Kiwis winning the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, and the Silver Ferns winning the 2019 Netball World Cup.

Internationally, there have been things like the Miracle on Ice (the young Americans beating the Soviets at the 1980 Winter Olympics), Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson, Liverpool winning the 2005 Champions League final, Japan beating the Springboks at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and Emma Raducanu winning the US Open three years ago.

Nothing, though, can ever match the most unexpected champion in the history of sport.

Leicester winning the Premier League in 2016 made no sense then, and it makes no sense now. Bonkers and wonderful.

Unexpected success II

Cricket is just madness all round at the moment.

Here are a couple of frankly loopy statistics from the Black Caps’ magnificent win over India in the first test.

It was just the second time in test history, according to cricket trainspotter Michael Appleton, that a team made more than 10 times as many runs in their second innings than in their first. India were rolled for 46 then posted 462. The last time it happened? Exactly a century ago, when South Africa made 30 and 390 against England.

Here is another beauty.

Much-maligned Black Caps batter Tim Southee delivered just the second instance in test history of a No9 batter scoring more than the opposing team’s entire first innings. Southee whacked 65, and the Indians combined for the aforementioned 46.

That last happened in 1902, when Reggie Duff scored 104 for Australia, and England crumbled for 61.

Cox Plate runner Broadsiding is put through his paces during a beach session in preparation for Australiasia’s premier weight-for-age contest at The Valley today. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

The big prune

The Commonwealth Games have given New Zealand sports fans some wonderful memories.

But the clock is ticking.

We all knew a cull was coming when it emerged Glasgow was stepping into Victoria’s shoes to host a scaled-back Games, but it was still a bit of a shock to see the likes of rugby sevens, road cycling and triathlon given the boot.

Could this be the last Commonwealth Games?

Or will some sort of sense prevail and the event survive in a permanently reduced format?

Long-serving broadcaster and sports observer Paul Allison sent me some interesting reading that highlights how the Games, much like the Olympics, became a bit of a bloated beast, leading to budget blowouts.

He feels Auckland 1990 was about the perfect size and scale for a Commonwealth Games. It had 10 sports, 204 events and 2073 competitors.

Twenty-two years later, Birmingham had 20 sports, 280 events and a whopping 5054 competitors.

‘‘The Games have got so big, so costly and lost their relevance and appeal,’’ Allison wrote.

‘‘Too many team sports and the Games have been left behind because of global sports competitions that are happening on a much more frequent basis.’’

NPC future

Hat tip to my colleague Adrian Seconi — not for predicting the White Ferns would win (he very much did not) but for his excellent series this week on the future of the NPC.

I hope you have read the various yarns and formulated some thoughts about where the competition is heading.

Other media outlets have been waxing lyrical about the quality of this year’s NPC and the rise in crowd numbers, but it feels like the New Zealand rugby spin machine has been in top gear.