Cricket moves in on rugby turf

Traipse through Christchurch this week and see cricket moving in like a pathogen on another sport's turf. If New Zealand is rugby heartland, the Canterbury province is its aortic chamber. Here, local veins bleed the Canterbury Rugby Union's red-and-black, grizzled men speak of All Black stars Richie McCaw and Daniel Carter as if they were their own children, whose bedrooms, by the way, are covered in posters of the same men in sporting pose.

Cricket's grip had begun to set in when Christchurch was granted the World Cup curtain-raiser. Then on Boxing Day, when the city saw its first Test match since 2006, Brendon McCullum's breakneck 195 gave a bold new edge to the invasion. Suddenly, the chatter over café tables was no longer about backlines and forward packs. Top orders and bowling attacks captured imaginations instead.

By Thursday, the cricket contagion had become an epidemic, as denizens gathered in their tens of thousands at the opening ceremony. North Hagley Park broke out in dozens of mini cricket matches, some at specially-themed stations celebrating all corners of the cricket universe, from the Caribbean's calypso to Punjab's bhangra. WG Grace watched over the Victorian themed match, which was attended by pretend Victorian ladies, having pretend tea on the boundary.

As the sun set and the show began, the swelling masses obeyed the directions issued by the ceremony's presenters and turned around to wave at the helicopter flying overhead - it's camera potentially beaming their collective flailings to hundreds of millions worldwide. Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel even took the stage like the hype-woman for a 1980s rapper and bellowed "We are back", amid other rhapsodic catchphrases. Here was a town so caught in the spirit of the event, it did not mind coming off a little naff. Here was a city so keen to resurge after four difficult years, each of its citizens were taking ownership of their own bite-sized role in hosting planet cricket.

"Right from the beginning when I started working on cricket World Cup, everyone was very interested in Christchurch and how it could have a special role in the tournament," New Zealand's head World Cup organiser, Therese Walsh said. "What happened with the Rugby World Cup in 2011, is that matches were taken away from Christchurch after the earthquakes. It was always really important to us to bring a major sporting event back to the city. We knew we needed stadiums with bigger capacity for the quarter and semi final, so the obvious thing for Christchurch was the opening match and opening event."

It has helped no end of course, that like Christchurch, New Zealand's cricket team has risen dramatically from the dust of its barren spell at the beginning of this decade. Not so long ago, they were pampered wastrels of ability in the public's eye, but Brendon McCullum and Mike Hesson have now pulled off a monumentally successful rebranding campaign, not just via on-field successes, but also by adopting values that resonate with the national ethos. Tim Southee canned his trash talk. McCullum curbed his own public impetuosity. "Humility" became a buzzword, and respect the team dogma.

"Ticket sales are very strong, very early. When we launched them one year ago, we sold thousands of tickets. Even before the tournament has started, five of the six Black Caps matches are sold out."New Zealand head World Cup organiser, Therese Walsh

New Zealand's young quicks have begun to set pulses racing as well as any All Blacks line break, but it is not Southee and Trent Boult around whom New Zealand's World Cup hopes have gathered. In Kane Williamson's mellow manner and monstrous appetite for runs New Zealand has found a hero as young, as restrained, and as exquisite to behold as the country itself.

There is arguably no more exciting young player in the world, yet New Zealand's cricket fans don't beat chests or blow trumpets. Williamson's nation of admirers speak of him in whispers, as if the decibels of their regard could press down on his 24-year-old shoulders. "He doesn't quite understand how good he is", fans feel. Both they, and perhaps he, will strive to leave that unchanged. McCullum's blitzkriegs and Ross Taylor's legside shellackings will always exhilarate and draw great crowds, but Williamson is forming a deeper, more profound relationship with New Zealand's public.

New Zealand's optimism about their team's chances of lifting the trophy, is similarly subdued. They know the details of the team's outstanding form, but they are eager to experience the World Cup journey, rather set sights too tightly on a triumphant destination.

"With the rugby world cup, there was a lot of excitement, but there was also a weighing down and seriousness brought by the expectation that the All Blacks had to win," Walsh said, having also helped oversee New Zealand's hosting of the Rugby World Cup in 2011. "You don't get that so much with the cricket World Cup. It's very much a: 'Ooh, we think the Black Caps can do pretty well in this tournament' kind of feeling. There were a couple of years when the public was a little negative toward the team, but there has been a real re-emergence of cricket."

That re-emergence has seen thousands sign up as volunteers, while organisers' efforts to have migrant communities from cricket-playing nations involved have also caught fire. The opening ceremony in Christchurch began with a Kandyan dance, performed by a locally-based Sri Lankan troupe. That event had plenty of Indian, Pakistani and Caribbean flavour as well.

More importantly, healthy crowds are expected for matches throughout the country. "What usually happens for international cricket in this country, is we're a little bit slow," Walsh said. "We wait till the day and we see what the weather is like. We're very much a walk-up crowd.

"For World Cup, sales are very strong, very early. When we launched them one year ago, we sold thousands of tickets. Even before the tournament has started, five of the six Black Caps matches are sold out."

The most anticipated of those sold-out games is New Zealand's game against Australia at Eden Park, on February 28. Though Australia have more storied cricket rivalries, no victory is more savoured in New Zealand than triumph over the men from "across the ditch". Unlike in rugby, where the Bledisloe Cup is contested between these two teams every year, New Zealand cricket fans grumble that their side don't tour their neighbours often enough.

It is of course inevitable that when the All Blacks re-form for the approach to their defence of the Rugby World Cup later this year, that the country's sporting allegiance will realign itself. But for the next six weeks, New Zealanders have readied to dance to the beat of leather on willow, emboldened by the devious thought their nation of four million could hold two major world titles at the end of it all.