World Cup Cocktail

The Black Caps were triumphant today - and so was the 'Cricket Cricket'.

The Herald's six-legged oracle predicted New Zealand would win against Sri Lanka in the opener of the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

The black field cricket lives at Butterfly Creek in Auckland, and announced this week via his media handlers that he was eager to call the big games.

Will he eclipse the record of Paul the Octopus, the eight-legged German psychic that shot to fame during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and Richie McCow, the calf that pronounced on the 2011 Rugby World Cup? We'll have to wait and see.

Cricket was more hesitant over the England and Australia flags. He went to the orange with the Australia flag, stopping to lick his feet along the way.

Million dollar catch

A Canterbury cricket fan has become the first person to land a one-handed catch that could see him earn a cool $1 million.

Sunjay Ganda, who works as the development manager at Canterbury Hockey, took the Kane Williamson shot on a grassy embankment during today's opening Cricket World Cup clash.

Should the Black Caps win the event, and no other fan takes a one-handed catch at matches played in New Zealand, he will become a millionaire.

"It's very surreal. I didn't think I would be doing that when I turned up at the ground," he told Newstalk ZB's Veitch on Sport.

Asked how he managed to pull off the exceptional catch he said: "To be honest I don't have a clue. I just watched it and it stuck."

This year's Tui catch-a-million promotion is based on the Black Caps' fortunes at the World Cup.

How much money Ganda pockets is linked to the performance of the Black Caps at the tournament, and how many other people pull off a catch.

If the side progresses past the first round of pool play and no one else takes a catch he will walk away with $250,000.

If the national team gets through to the quarter-finals the kitty will jackpot to $300,000. If they make it to the semifinals he will win a share of $500,000.

The jackpot will rise to $1m if the Black Caps win the World Cup.

Courtsiders evicted

Several people were turfed out of the opening match of the Cricket World Cup today for trying to manipulate the betting.

Police confirmed a number of spectators from Christchurch's Hagley Oval, including some who were caught "courtsiding".

Courtsiding is when fans within venues relay information about incidents during games to people overseas immediately, taking advantage of broadcasting time delays to influence betting.

Courtsiding is different from match-fixing, which is the manipulation of sporting events to achieve a pre-determined outcome. Courtsiding is not illegal in New Zealand, but it is a breach of the terms and conditions of Cricket World Cup tickets.

– Compiled