Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Cricket has occupied the attention of Sideline Sid from dawn until dusk over the last ten days.

Not only has there been wall-to-wall coverage of the Cricket World Cup, but there's also been lots of Bay of Plenty action as well, with the Bay Senior Men's teams chasing down over 300 runs to beat Hamilton.

Just like Paddy Greatbatch, who set the Cricket World Cup alight 23 years ago, Black Caps skipper Brendan McCullum did the same in the NZ's third match of the tournament.

In the style of Greatbatch, who brought the art of pinch hitting to the one-day game, McCullum simply tore apart the vaunted England bowling attack.

The captain blasted the fastest half-century in CWC history, with his 50 runs coming off just 18 balls. He went on to reach 77, with all but three of his runs coming from boundaries or sixes.

McCullum's lightning innings came after the Black Caps bowlers, led by Tim Southee with a 7 wicket bag, completely annihilated the England batting attack. While Trent Boult took just one wicket, he bowled with complete authority and had the England batsmen on the back foot throughout.

His lone wicket was an all Bay of Plenty affair, with Kane Williamson taking a grand catch to dismiss England's number three batsmen.

The only irritating note on a grand afternoon of cricket was the decision to halt the Black Caps innings for a 40 minute break after nine overs. It is the rules of the ODI game that a required break is taken at the end of the completed first half.

With the game in the bag for the Black Caps, many of the fans at the Caketin then voted with their feet and left the ground before the finish.

The million dollar question now is whether the New Zealand team can go all the way and capture the Cricket World Cup for the very first time.

While they are playing with supreme confidence, their first real test will come this Saturday at Eden Park where they face the enemy from across the ditch. Beating or running Australia close will cement the Black Caps as genuine contenders to lift the big prize.

Closer to home, the Bay of Plenty Senior Men's side had their day in the sun over the weekend, beating archrivals Hamilton in a Fergus Hickey Rosebowl two-day encounter. The Waikato side must have thought they had the game in the bag when they declared at 313/9, late on day one.

A rain-delayed start on Sunday saw the Bay side resume at 20 without loss.

Needing to bat throughout the day to take first innings points, the Bay side were in real trouble at three wickets down with just 54 runs on the board.

But the arrival of Joe Carter, batting at three, turned around the Bay side's momentum around. When the Bay of Plenty master blaster was dismissed for a neat one hundred, his team were right back in the game at 186/4.

After Mitch McCann was stumped for 65 by Hamilton keeper Peter Bocock, the match was still evenly poised at 251 for the loss of five wickets.

Enter Brett Hampton and Jono Boult, who took their team to victory as they blasted the ball to the boundary.

Hampton posted an unbeaten 61, while Northern Knight and long time Bay of Plenty all-rounder Jono Boult blasted a quickfire 41 off just 31 balls.

What made the win even sweeter was that the Bay side had been thrashed by Hamilton at the ND One-Day tournament during December.

Go the Black Caps!