I got up at 5am. It seemed a good compromise. I missed the first innings but I was well set up for the business end of the World Cup semi-final as the Black Caps clawed their way on an awkward wicket towards England’s total.

You know what happened next. The game waxed and waned. But in the end, the Black Caps were triumphant. They confirmed their spot in the T-20 World Cup final: Three formats. Three finals. Three good reasons the Black Caps can call themselves the best all-round men’s cricket team in the World.

Just a few years ago, this would have been unthinkable.

I’m too young to remember the 80's and the other golden patch in Black Caps history. I grew up and grew to love the game in the nineties and aughts when supporting the Caps was a bit more... testing.

Our’s was a team of scrappers. Every now and then they’d pull a surprise performance out of the bag. But the joy of those wins was pretty regularly offset by the pain of underwhelming performances and choking on the big stage.

I distinctly remember attending a game at Lancaster Park in which New Zealand was so soundly, comprehensively outclassed by the Australian team, some nearby drunken fans began burning an effigy of Shane Warne just to entertain itself. What Black Caps fan could ever forget Tuffey’s 14-ball over? Or the time we were bowled out for 45? The path to World domination has been paved with bricks of mental fragility and athletic inadequacy, squandered potential and all-round inadequacy.

That’s why I’m determined to be present for this golden moment in New Zealand cricket. I want to soak up every second, every success, in the knowledge that nothing lasts forever. It’s like when you injure yourself or find yourself with a throbbing headache, and you promise yourself that when you feel better, you won’t take good health or comfort for granted, ever again. But then of course, you do. We cannot let the same thing happen. Because when, inevitably, the men’s cricketing World order rearranges itself again, it could be decades or even centuries before the Black Caps are back on top.

One final thought. I was watching the other night when Darryl Mitchel bumped into Adil Rashid, got into a bit of a pickle, and turned down the subsequent single with his batting partner. In one sense, it was a pretty minor little exchange. But it was a run that at that late stage of the game would have been particularly valuable. I’ve got to be honest, as a fan, my impulse was ‘Take the run! Take the run! Are you kidding me?!’

But they didn’t. Just as the Black Caps didn’t bleat and moan after the ODI World Cup Final, which they lost on an obscure technicality, they prioritised the spirit of the game above winning the game. This time it paid off.

In a sport with big egos, where it’s perfectly normal and acceptable to slag off and unsettle your opponents, the Black Caps have proved that nice guys don’t always finish last.

And compare that with our closest neighbours, our opponents in the T-20 World Cup final. In the same period the Black Caps have developed a reputation as the nice guys of World Cricket, Australia has seen its captain banned from the sport for cheating.

There’s just so much to be said for NOT being dicks.

With all that in mind I’m waiting keenly for the T-20 World Cup Final. Maybe we’ll win. Maybe we’ll lose. Either way I’ll savour being there. The first ball’s at 3am on Monday morning. This time there will be no compromise. I’ve already set the alarm.