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T20 World Cup Final: 'Time to settle a score' - Former New Zealand cricketer says Australia 'never rated our cricket'
The former New Zealand cricketer said that it is time for New Zealand to ‘settle a score’ from their experience in the 2015 ODI World Cup final.
New Zealand will face Australia in the final of the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai later tonight. The ‘BlackCaps’ are chasing their second ICC title this year – the first being the inaugural edition of World Test Championship in June.
Kane Williamson, the current captain of the side, was also the part of the side which faced a final heartbreak against Australia in the 2015 ODI World Cup. Six years down the line, New Zealand will be aiming to wash away the pain of a final loss and former Kiwi batter Bruce Edgar believes that it is time for the side to “settle a score” for the 2015 defeat.
“I think the 2015 World Cup won’t necessarily be front and centre, but it’ll be a piece of history they’ll be thinking about,” Edgar told The Age.
“The Aussies always rated our rugby but never rated our cricket. ‘We’re better than you guys, simple as that, and we always will be’. Maybe that gap has closed now. The fear factor has gone. It’s a bit like teams playing the All Blacks. It’s equalised a bit more now. It’s time for the Blackcaps to settle a score from their experiences in Melbourne in 2015.”
The former New Zealand cricketer further talked about the famous Australian mentality, and believes that the current crop of Kiwi players can challenge them.
“The Aussie mentality in the 1980s was ‘we’ll beat anyone in front of us’. That was a team ethos and it’s always been like that with (Ricky) Ponting and (Michael) Clarke and (Adam) Gilchrist. There are now (New Zealand) players with experience and mental toughness that there has not always been there,” said Edgar.
The T20 World Cup will have a new champion on Sunday, as both New Zealand and Australia are yet to win a title. Australia came closest in 2010, when they finished runners-up.
