da roleta： He may not quite be the new Gilchrist yet, but he’s getting there. New Zealand’s wicketkeeper is now arguably the single most devastating opener in all limited-overs cricket
da dobrowin： Andrew Miller20-Apr-2008
Getting the job done: for Brendon McCullum, the IPL has ‘made things a lot easier’ © Getty Images
On February 20, Brendon McCullum was eating pizza and drinking beer in ahotel car park in Napier when his life changed forever. New Zealand’s day hadbeen quite breathless enough already – the fourth ODI against England had just finished as an incredible last-ball tie and the players were winding down ahead of their trip to Christchurch for the series showdown. But overin Mumbai, things were only just hotting up.By the end of the night, the pizza and beer had become champagne and caviar.McCullum was looking forward to a lifetime of financial security, and hadeven allowed his thoughts to drift towards property empires and racehorses,after having been valued at US$700,000 in the inaugural IPL auction. “It was ahuge moment for me,” he told Cricinfo. “It’s allowed me to change my life,and focus on getting the job done out in the middle rather than having toworry about the financial ins and outs. It’s made things a lot easier.”McCullum hasn’t exactly made the game look difficult of late, in what hasproved to be a seminal six months. With the retirement of Adam Gilchrist, hehas become not only the foremost wicketkeeper-batsman in the world, butarguably the single most devastating opener in all limited-overs cricket. Hehammered a total of 261 runs from 203 balls to rout England over fivematches in February (the one match in which he failed, New Zealand lost),while on New Year’s Eve in Queenstown, he carved 80 not out from 28 balls to condemnBangladesh to the most thumping defeat in ODI history, with ten wickets and44 overs to spare.No wonder the Kolkata Knight Riders paid through the nose for his services.On Friday night, McCullum had his first chance to offer a return on thatinvestment, when he took on the Royal Challengers in the first round of theIPL. He did not come close to disappointing. In a feverish atmosphere at theChinnaswamy Stadium, he strode out to open under the floodlights with hiscaptain, Sourav Ganguly, and shone both literally and metaphorically, hisbrilliant unbeaten 158 from 73 balls amply justifying the garishness of his gold and black uniform.Despite the hype, however, McCullum remains admirably phlegmatic about hisnew exalted status, and adamant that his best is yet to come. “The money isa nice reward for all the hard work and some of the success I’ve beengetting,” he says, “but hopefully my dollar value is more about mypotential, not what I’ve offered so far.”Given that he won’t turn 27 until September, McCullum’s prime looks set tobe protracted and fruitful. He combines a wonderful eye with a fearlessnessborn of self-certainty, and by making his first move a defiant strideforward, he puts himself in position to capitalise on the most minute errorin line or length. “It’s not rocket science,” he says. “As long as you resetyour stance it’s all right, because it takes the risk out of your play.There’s no harm in trying to be aggressive and showing good intent. Nine timesout of ten, if you’re asking the bowler to do something different, itprobably means you’ll have more success.”That bowler-baiting technique, however, has not come about without a fairdegree of trial, error and soul-searching. McCullum’s improbably low one-dayaverage of 27.46, for instance, tells the tale of a difficult first foray ininternational cricket, which began in 2001-02 at the age of 20 – on a tourof Australia, of all places.”I wasn’t a roaring hit on debut,” McCullum admits. He was run out for five inhis first match against Australia in Sydney, and then made a third-ball ducknine days later in Adelaide. “It was a tough series, and a toughintroduction, but I’d never change it, because it shaped me in terms of mydesire and wanting to come back a better player.” He nevertheless proved tobe a lucky mascot. New Zealand won both games to hasten the end of SteveWaugh’s ODI career, and McCullum was still a fixture – albeit anunderperforming one – during New Zealand’s World Cup campaign a year later.”I had Cairnsy [Chris Cairns] and Flem [Stephen Fleming] saying, ‘Actually, you don’t understand, we don’t beat these guys that often’,” McCullum recalls. “I didn’t do that well, butI’d had a taste and I knew this was what I wanted to be part of. We beatAustralia twice and South Africa as well, so it was an enjoyable introduction, even if I didn’t get the personal gains I’d have liked.”Rather like Buzz Aldrin to Gilchrist’s Neil Armstrong, McCullum knows that he’ll have to obliterate the record books if he is to be recalled in the same breath as his role model. “I’d love to match him, but I wouldn’t want to disrespect him by saying that I will, because even ifsomeone goes and does what he did, he was the first to do it” Those personal gains took a while to come to fruition – by the time he madehis Test debut in March 2004, he had managed just two half-centuries in 35ODIs, at an average of 20.03, and a strike-rate of 66, which hardly foretoldthe riches to come. But New Zealand’s selectors recognised a star in themaking and sent him to Australia in the winter of 2002, where he sharpenedhis game under the guidance of the former New Zealand coach, Steve Rixon.”What I learned there was huge,” he says. “I was a player with lots ofexpectations on me, so it really helped to grow my confidence and give a bitof that Aussie edge.” On that trip, he also found time to break a fewrecords for a Darwin club side, Palmerston, clobbering 250 notout in less than 100 balls in one remarkable performance. Transferring thatsort of power-hitting to the highest level, however, was McCullum’s realchallenge.”Domestic cricket in New Zealand isn’t strong, so you actually have to findout your game in international cricket,” he says. “For a while, I triedeverything and took on board every bit of info, then I went the other wayand decided not to listen to any advice. I didn’t really know where I washeading. But it’s a matter of balance and filtering the information that youget. You end up being surrounded by people who want to change your game, butmost of the time it’s what has actually got you to the side in the firstplace that needs to be harnessed.”To hear him talk and watch him play now, you’d assume he’d never had a carein the world. That’s pretty much the impression he likes to create out inthe middle. “I don’t tend to get too concerned about the pressures of thegame,” he says. “You feel pressure every time you play, but you play withthe expectation that you need to perform. If you fear not performing oryou’re worried about what’s coming up behind you, your mindset is wrong. Ilook around the world, and ask myself, “What’s Gilly [Gilchrist] doing, or[Kumar] Sangakkara or [Mark] Boucher? I try to move my game forward by taking strides to achieve what they are achieving.”So far as Gilchrist is concerned, McCullum is still a fair way short ofmatching his achievements, but time is very much on his side. At the sameage, 26, Gilchrist had played two years of ODIs but was still 12 monthsaway from ousting Ian Healy in the Test set-up. With more than 3000international runs to his name already, as well as 250-plus dismissals,McCullum is quietly confident that he’ll be leaving a significant mark onthe game for posterity. “I’ve got a few numbers in mind, but I keep thoseclose to my chest,” he says. “Mostly they are records for New Zealand stuff, not internationals … well, maybe they could be. We’ll have to wait and see.”Rather like Buzz Aldrin to Gilchrist’s Neil Armstrong, however, McCullumknows that he’ll have to obliterate the record books if he is to be recalledin the same breath as his role model. “I’d love to match him, but Iwouldn’t want to disrespect him by saying that I will, because even ifsomeone goes and does what he did, he was the first to do it. He wentcompletely against the way everyone else has ever played the game, and hepulled it off. I’d love to do a fraction of what he’s achieved.”He’s an absolute phenomenon and he’s my inspiration,” says McCullum. “Ourtechniques aren’t that similar, but he gave me the confidence to try andmatch his intent and aggression. With him it was all about winning the gameup front, rather than sitting back and waiting for this and that to unfold.When you go through a bad patch as an attacking player, people will try andsay it’s the wrong way to play, but he’s been strong-minded enough to do itfor a long period. He’s one serious player.”
‘People want to change your game, but most of the time it’s what has actually got you to the side in the first place that needs to be harnessed’ © Getty Images
McCullum is pretty serious himself. Unlike many of his wicketkeepingcontemporaries, glovework comes naturally to him – so naturally, in fact,that he required an operation as a teenager after damaging his left kneewhile squatting for too many overs in park cricket. There is one significantarea in which he still falls short of his idol, however, although Friday’sinnings might just be the catalyst for change. With 12 hundreds from No. 7in Tests, and 16 more as a one-day opener, Gilchrist managed to produceinnings that were sustained explosions. So far in his international career,McCullum has just two hundreds to his name, both in Tests against theminnows of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.His IPL debut follows on from a no-less-extraordinary 170 from 108 balls forOtago against Auckland in New Zealand’s State Shield final last month, twoinnings that could herald the opening of the floodgates. “Flem always said hundreds are for poofs,” McCullum joked during the recent England Testseries, an opinion he might soon be forced to revise. “My conversion-ratedoes bother me a little bit, but saying that, hopefully I’ve got another tenyears left in the game. With the lessons I’ve learnt, if I can keep goingand keep learning, the numbers will look after themselves.”He’s had a few near-misses in Test cricket – a 99 against Sri Lanka, and a 96 on his overseas debut, in 2004 against England, at Lord’s of all places. The memory of that innings brings him out in a quiet rash of expletives. “That was pretty gutting,” he says. “It was satisfying in a way, because wewere up against a seriously good English attack at the time, but it was sodisappointing. I got an opportunity to bat at No. 3, and we’d been behind onfirst innings, so I was proud, but I’ve got another shot coming up this yearto get on the honours board.”First, though, he has his sojourn in India to be getting on with, and tojudge by Friday’s first impression, his dollar value will only be going inone direction in the coming months. “I just need to catch my breath at themoment,” says McCullum. “I don’t want to dive into every opportunity. I justneed to digest everything that’s happened, and wait until we get a sustainedperiod of time at home before I work out what to do myself.” To the casualonlooker, he’s doing just fine as it is.