Former New Zealand opener Bruce Edgar doesn’t think Australia hold the dominance they once had over their Trans-Tasman rival.
Despite being the less accomplished cricketing nation in the rivalry, New Zealand’s current team has stamped their authority on the world stage, making the finals of the last two One-Day World Cups and recently winning the World Test Championship.
With the two countries set to battle for the T20 World Cup on Monday morning, Edgar says he doesn’t think Australia has the “fear factor” they once did for New Zealand sides.
“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 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.”
Having played for the national team in the 70s and 80s, Edgar viewed his team as merely a “nuisance” for the dominant Aussies but he feels Kane Williamson’s 2021 Blackcaps are well and truly up to their rival’s level.
“When (Australia) played us I suppose we were a bit of a nuisance to play. New Zealand started to get a bit of resistance along the way,” Edgar said.
“Aussie is seen as the big brother; we’re seen as the little brother. The little brother might be boxing above his weight. We’ve been playing some very good cricket for some time across all formats and the Aussies know that.”
The final is set for Dubai’s International Stadium with the first ball to be bowled at 1am (AEDT) and 3am (NZDT) on Monday morning.
Neither nation has ever won a T20 World Cup.
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