The New Zealand men’s cricket team is nicknamed “the Black Caps”. They have never won a World Cup ODI or T20 title in their entire career. However, the tall and strong men of the country have won a World Test Cup title, so they have certainly earned their standing as “Nice Guys”.
New Zealand transformation happened during 2013, under the leadership of Brendon McCullum, who just lost out on the Cape Town test by 45 runs the same year. The defeat then after was taken as ‘enough is enough’ attitude and from where Brendon McCullum and his coach Mike Hessen along support staff together restructured their pathway to redemption from that time itself. And the rest is history.
Since that transformation took place the “Black Caps” have never looked behind and has formed a team with soul in it The Kane Williamson led team has reached the ODI world cup final twice since then and it is being considered as one of the strongest teams in the world cup series.
In an interview, Mike Hessen, the former New Zealand head coach, indicated that the entire team previously had selfish intentions and preferred to play for themselves rather than for the country. There was a lot of insecurity among the players at the time, and they fought hard for their spots in the team.
But thanks to the eye opening that took place around 2013-14 where the team management started working on their core team strongly by keeping faith on their players. Slowly the attitude of the entire team started changing according to Tom Latham (Former New Zealand VC) and at the end of the World Cup, the team took the trophy under their name.
So, what are those 5 things every team should learn from the changes made by the New Zealand team?
- Building Faith and Confidence on the team – Firstly, they developed the faith inside of their players which was lacking and was self-centred before.
- Recognition – The NZ cricket team management started giving recognition to its players that they are valued and they are most importantly needed. They were inculcated with values such as earn and give respect with humble and hardworking attitude.
- The New Zealand Cricket Management worked more on their domestic front backing all the players and started paying them well. The work upon domestic front ensured the top talents of the country emerging and taking it seriously. They conducted First class tournaments in order to get top notch talent base for their A-Team and bridging the gap between the domestic and international cricket
- Quality over Quantity – The New Cricket management ensured that the focus remains much upon the quality of player rather than hoard of players with no talent at all. High quality matches with challenging situations were created to create a strong bench with strength and stamina.
- Honourable Value with good Characters – Honourable values were inculcated in side the team to build a good character.
So, you see how the 5 changes above led the New Zealand Test Transformation, how these 5 things every team have to learn from them.
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