Softball: Black Sox legend Nathan Nukunuku set for record-breaking seventh World Series

One of New Zealand's most decorated softball stars will create history in May when the Black Sox compete at the world championships in the Czech Republic.

Captain Nathan Nukunuku's set to be part of the global showpiece for a record seventh time, although individual kudos is not really his thing.

"I don't actually know what it would do, does it give me a cheque then sweet, otherwise it's something to look back on when my career is done," he told Newshub.

Teammate Josh Harbrow has been watching Nukunuku since he was at school.

"He's a legend you know,  I can remember watching him in the world series here when I was 12 years old - in 2004," Harbrow told Newshub.

"He loves winning more than anything else - that makes him the best in the world at what he does."

The Black Sox have won the World Series seven times, the most of any country, with Nukunuku involved in four of them.

A squad of 17 has been selected to go to Prague to defend the title they won in 2017. 

There are three rookies, including 21-year-old Jackson Watt, who joins his Canterbury and Papanui Tigers club-mate Tyron Bartorillo, who's won three world series, one with Australia and two with the Black Sox.

"I've been looking up to 'Barty' for years and now to get the call up to join Tyrone  - it was a cool moment man," said Jackson Watt.

The team leaves for warm-up events in the USA and the Netherlands in May, before heading to the Czech Republic.

"I just want to win a title, that's what we are here to do," Nukunuka said.

That would equate to a record-breaking fifth title - twenty years after his first.

Newshub.