Setting the tone early is crucial. Especially in a tournament like the World Cup. In the 1992 World Cup, New Zealand did just that thanks to skipper Martin Crowe.
Joint hosts, Australia and New Zealand kickstarted the tournament at Auckland. 37 days to go before the start of World Cup 2019, here's a look at the Black Caps' 37-run win over their Trans-Tasman rivals.
It was the defending champions against the side with arguably the best batsman in the world.
It was not supposed to be a fair fight, especially with the well-settled batting line-up Australia had, which included David Boon, Dean Jones, Allan Border, Tom Moody and the Waugh brothers.
New Zealand won the toss but got off to the worst possible start as they were struggling at 13/2 when Crowe walked into the crease.
Leading from the front
The New Zealand skipper set the stage early with some delightful drives and steadied the innings courtesy of his 40-run partnership with Rod Latham.
As Latham was caught behind off Moody, Crowe set about launching a full-scale recovery with the help of Ken Rutherford. The pair went along at their own pace but added 118 crucial runs for the fourth wicket.
The runs started flowing after Australia decided bowl shorter. But just when it looked like the Black Caps were setting it up for something big, two run-outs in the space of 20 runs meant that the Kiwis were at 191/5.
Undeterred by all of this, Crowe continued to go along his merry way and got to his century off the penultimate ball of the innings with a risky single.
Thanks to a captain's knock, Kiwis posted 248/6 and their bowlers had something to bowl at.
Crowe's innovation pays off
Not content with making the difference with the bat, Crowe did so as captain as well. He opened the bowling with Dipak Patel, sparking a tradition that is employed to this day, of opening the attack with the spinner.
The novel concept worked for the Black Caps. With no pace on the ball, Australia's batsmen were deflated after Chris Cairns was pulled off the attack after four expensive overs.
Patel finished with 1/36, while the Black Caps' never-ending array of military-medium bowlers made scoring runs incredibly difficult on a pitch that was getting lower and slower.
Despite Boon's century, only three other Australian batsmen got to double digits as they were eventually bundled out for 211.
That was the start of a dream World Cup for New Zealand, who topped the group stage before being dumped out of the tournament in the semi-final courtesy of a Young Inzamam-ul-Haq.