World Cup final here we come

What a brilliant reward making the World Cup final is for an outstanding campaign by New Zealand's cricketers.

But the challenge now is not to just savour their achievement in reaching the final but going on to win it.

There can be no argument that the last five weeks have represented a stellar feat of teamwork in the grand New Zealand manner.

Any sporting success achieved by New Zealanders, generally against the weight of population, monetary and technology advantages enjoyed by the opposition, has teamwork at its core. How else could such a small population base succeed on the world stage?

Yachting, rowing, golf, athletics, rugby, football, softball and a host of other sports have a legacy of teamwork examples as the basis of their success.

But Brendon McCullum's men have a superb chance to add cricket to that list.

No matter which way you look at it, the semi-final victory over South Africa was not an accident.

It may have been achieved with a ball to spare, it may have been as the result of some luck.

Good teams make their own luck, and to be in position to take advantage of it is central to success.

Consider the examples the team has already provided.

Last night it was Grant Elliott with an innings of elegant composure and a penultimate ball six off one of the finest bowlers the game has known.

But it might just as well have been Kane Williamson's six to manage a one-wicket win over Australia.

Or Tim Southee sorting out England with a New Zealand-best bowling effort in ODIs of 7-33 for 15 wickets at 4.23 economy rate.

Or Trent Boult achieving New Zealand's best haul of wickets in a World Cup series, outstanding considering six months ago he wasn't even considered a certainty for inclusion. He heads the tournament list with 21 wickets at an economy rate of 4.41.

Or Daniel Vettori's bowling mastery at crucial stages of the tournament. He has 15 wickets at an economy rate of 3.98.

That's not to forget Martin Guptill's magnificent highest score in World Cups in Wellington with his 237 not out. He sits second on the run scoring list with 532, nine behind Kumar Sangakkara.

Or the electric starts Brendon McCullum has given the side with his blazing bat, for 328 runs at a strike rate of 191.81, and that isn't forgetting his leadership.

And while they haven't taken the bowling apart Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson have featured with some key innings to stabilise the batting just when it was necessary. Anderson has thrown in 14 wickets.

What about Adam Milne picking up wickets at key moments with his exciting fast bowling, or taking catches in the outfield?

All of which highlights the teamwork which is the best asset of the New Zealand side.

Auckland rewarded their effort in magnificent fashion, paying due homage to a side which went one step further than Martin Crowe's men of 1992 and which supplemented the earlier work of teams led by Glenn Turner (1975), Mark Burgess (1979), Geoff Howarth (1983), Stephen Fleming (1999-2007) and Daniel Vettori (2011).

Tuesday's victory was a significant moment in New Zealand's cricket history but McCullum's men have done enough in this World Cup to suggest they can go all the way.

They will have a significant challenge in getting used to the vast acreage of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The boundaries are much longer, the ground to be covered in the field much further and the methods of run accumulation much different.

But as the teamwork has shown during this tournament, if ever there was a team of winning the World Cup it is Brendon McCullum's side.

Now for Aussie, the next test for Brendon McCullum's men

Breath-taking. That can be the only description for New Zealand's demolition of England in the World Cup.

An eight wicket win achieved in 45.4 overs. That's 33.2 overs for England to post 123, losing their last seven wickets for 19 runs, and 12.2 overs for New Zealand to score 125.

Brendon McCullum's style is now thrown all over his team who were magnificent in the field, and responded to a brilliant demonstration of swing bowling by Tim Southee.

The Northland fast bowler doesn't always have the wickets fall in his favour, but he reaped a superb reward in Wellington in taking 7-33 from his nine overs, the best figures by a New Zealander in World Cup cricket and the third best in World Cup history.

McCullum increasingly chooses the bigger stages to demonstrate his batting wares and achieved the fastest 50 in World Cup history taking 18 balls en route to 77 off 25, with eight fours and 7 sixes.

England looked clueless from the outset and never recovered.

This is clearly a side with deep internal issues because there are too many quality players contained within it for it to be anything else.

As for New Zealand, they are stepping, perhaps even over-stepping, their older brothers from the 1992 campaign with a level of determination and skill that now only needs to overcome the threat Australia pose in Auckland next weekend to earn the right to a share of favouritism for the final prize.

These are heady heights for a country that rarely pokes its head above the cricket clouds. They are to be enjoyed while remembering that the path gets steeper now, and focus is vital.

Fulton and Southee take NZ Almanack honours for 2012-13

Batsman Peter Fulton and bowler Tim Southee were named the players of the year by the New Zealand Cricket Almanack.

Editors Francis Payne and Ian Smith described Fulton’s efforts in 2012-13 as ‘the best form of his career’. He totalled 1249 runs, capped by a century in each innings of the drawn third Test with England at Eden Park, a feat only surpassed by Martin Crowe.

The 66th New Zealand Cricket Almanack of 2013. Edited by Francis Payne and Ian Smith. Published by Hodder Moa. Price $55.00

Southee had achieved the best bowling performance by a New Zealander in India at the start of the season when taking 7-64 and he finished with 10 wickets in the Lord’s Test against England. At the start of the season he had been 33rd on the list of New Zealand’s wicket-takers but his 38 wickets during the summer saw him shoot to 17th with his total at 83 Test wickets.

The promising players of the year selected by the editors were left-arm fast bowler Mitch McClenaghan, Daryl Mitchell and Craig Munro.

One of the most interesting features of the Almanack every year is its Happenings section and just some of the details are listed below:

+ It is difficult to believe but leg-spinner Todd Astle was the 25th player to be on a winning side in his maiden Test. What is even more interesting is that the first player to achieve the feat was double international Keith Thomson, he played hockey for New Zealand, in 1968 which means that in 34 years, nearly one player a year has featured in a maiden Test win.

+ At the moment Astle shares a distinction with two others on the list, Gary Robertson and Andre Adams, of that being the only Test they played. However, Astle does have time on his side.

+ Given all the events in New Zealand cricket, it was somewhat incredible that the fact that New Zealand fielded the same XI in four successive Tests this year was the first time it had been achieved.

+ Central Districts and former New Zealand batsman Jamie How holds a unique record in the game. He is the only player to have taken part in a 400-run stand in first-class cricket, a triple-century stand in one-day cricket and a double-century stand in Twenty20 cricket.

+ Left-arm spinner Bruce Martin’s feat in playing 115 first-class games before making his Test debut is a New Zealand record.

As always, the Almanack is a fund of detail on the New Zealand season and a must-have for genuine cricket fans. There’s much more inside this 66th edition.