It seems no World Cup can pass without a result-predicting animal emerging to guide carefree punters where to invest their hard-earned cash.

The 2015 edition of cricket's showpiece has not failed to deliver with the New Zealand Herald revealing their "six-legged oracle" to readers on Saturday - the wearily named 'Cricket the cricket'.

Paul the Octopus shot to worldwide fame for the accuracy of his predictions at the 2010 FIFA World Cup but, four years on from his sad passing, 'Cricket' is doing little to maintain his legacy.

He initially began strongly by predicting three games correctly only for his soothsaying abilities to be cast into some disrepute by plumping for England to beat New Zealand in Wellington on Friday.

The Herald admitted in a short page five article that 'Cricket' had been "way off the money" and that he had been "a little bashful when he approached picking this weekend's games".

The small black insect, who lives in Butterfly creek in Auckland, makes his picks by drinking from an orange with the flag of the country he predicts stuck into the top.

Already he has incorrectly predicted a result this weekend - though his tip of Australia to beat Bangladesh was rendered moot by rain - while perhaps ominously for South Africa he has tipped them to beat India at the MCG on Sunday.