The appointment of Kumar Dharmasena as one of the umpires for the match on Thursday between England and New Zealand in the opening World Cup game seemed appropriate: if the teams involved in the 2019 final, that dramatic day at Lord’s, were being thrown back together at the earliest opportunity, may as well toss in an official and make it a full-blown reunion.
The schedule already guaranteed that the most discussed match during the tournament buildup would be the final of the last one, a showdown of breathtaking drama that set a standard no humble group game can hope to reach.
For the players on the losing side that day, it holds conflicting memories, of pride and of disappointment, but most importantly, four years on and on the eve of a new tournament, of a standard of performance on which they hope to improve. “I’d love to tell you the full story about it,” Lockie Ferguson says, cryptically. “But we as a group focus on what’s ahead of us, learn from mistakes of the past and try to be better than that next time.”
We meet at the Oval during the recent white-ball series in England – a run of fixtures that culminated in a scarring defeat at Lord’s – that he says triggered only “great memories”. But then the 2019 World Cup was something of a personal triumph for Ferguson, with 21 wickets at 19.47 – only Mitchell Starc took more – and a place in the team of the tournament.
“It was my first World Cup and it’s pretty spectacular to reflect on where I was at the start of that competition,” he says.
“I still have vivid memories of walking out on the last day, banners flying for the World Cup final at Lord’s, and just the whole spectacle. It was a great day of cricket.
“Clearly, it came right down to the last moment and that’s great too, but it’s been four years. We’ve played a lot of cricket since then, we’ve got a lot of mates in the English side. You won’t see any animosity or anything like that, but when we cross the line we’re playing competitive cricket.”
The Black Caps were lauded for the sportsmanship they showed in defeat. “That’s just the Kiwi way,” Ferguson says. “It’s natural for us. We didn’t have chats and say: ‘We need to handle ourselves this way.’ That’s how we play the game.”
It was all the more impressive for the fact that defeat (in general) was unusual for them, but defeat (in massive, high-profile matches) is gallingly familiar: New Zealand have lost in the finals of the past two 50-over World Cups, in the semi-finals of the two before that, and in two semi-finals and a final at the past three T20 World Cups.
There was no fairytale trophy lift, but it is still a remarkable record for a nation whose population, at 5.2m, is smaller than that of Ahmedabad, where they play England. A statistic to illustrate their consistency: between Ferguson’s debut in December 2016 and the start of the last World Cup they played 50 one-day internationals, losing 19 and winning 29; between the start of that tournament and their departure from England last month they played 50 ODIs, losing 19 and winning 28 – with one notable tie. All of which means ambitions for this tournament are high.
“I certainly think this is an exceptional group of players, so of course we turn up to every tournament trying to win it,” Ferguson says. “Some teams probably think they’ve got more of a chance, which is fair, but I don’t think any team’s turning up thinking they can’t. Certainly that’s our attitude.
“We play professional sport, we’re there to win games, and as a group that’s all we can focus on: what we do well as a team, play the cricket we play, with the culture, with the enjoyment factor. It sounds like we always say the same things but it really is that simple for us and when we’re playing cricket the way we want to play, we know we can put pressure on any team.”
The Black Caps’ trajectory may be similar, but Ferguson’s has certainly changed since 2019. He arrived at that tournament, about to turn 28, having played 32 internationals, including five T20s, and three foreign white-ball tournaments, effectively a junior member of the side. Four years later, he has just captained New Zealand, albeit a team without their Test players, in a tour of Bangladesh, and across the year has played nine club games in five competitions on four continents: two for Auckland, three for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, two for LA Knight Riders in the first season of America’s Major League Cricket, and two for Welsh Fire in the Hundred.
There is no time these days to adapt to different teams and tournaments: he is who he is and he does what he does (bowl, often very quickly, and bat, often very briefly). He is parachuted into a squad, does his job and then jets off to the next one.
“We love it. We’re athletes, we’re cricketers, we love playing cricket. Yeah, there’s times it’s tough. But sometimes you’ve got to think: ‘Hey, if 13-year-old Lockie was wondering what he was going to be doing when he was 30, and if he thought he’d have a career like this, I think he’d be pretty stoked.’
“So I always have to remind myself that. It’s a special job and cricket’s in such a good place, it’s growing worldwide. As cricketers, we should be pretty excited with where the sport is.”
Their bank managers certainly are, at least those with clients such as Ferguson, members of the global white-ball elite. For the past year his Kiwi teammate Trent Boult, at 34 two years his senior, has chosen to prioritise family and franchises over the national team (though he will be at the World Cup), establishing a path others may choose to follow.
“I’m not looking at that at this stage,” Ferguson says. “There’s a few big tournaments coming up and then we’ll reassess and see where the body is. I’m very privileged to have the opportunity to go and play the leagues and express my skills and get the experience overseas, but I always love coming back to this group. This is where I really enjoy playing my cricket and it’s kind of a family to us.”
With that Ferguson rises, ready to throw himself into another training session and to spend more time with his family.
