McCullum bouncing back

BY AARON LAWTON

WHEN Ross Taylor got the nod to captain his country against Australia last Wednesday night, fiery wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum was happy for his team-mate.

Honestly, he was and his support for Taylor cannot be questioned.

But you get the feeling McCullum also spent the day hurting that it wasn't him wearing the armband.

Especially when, by all accounts, it should have been.

Up until October last year, McCullum was the vice-captain of the Black Caps.

Then, under cloudy circumstances, he wasn't.

At the time, New Zealand Cricket boss Justin Vaughan suggested the decision had been made to demote McCullum so he could concentrate more on his batting which – one test, one one-day and one Twenty20 century later – looks to have worked.

Whatever the case, it was a disappointing fall from grace for one of New Zealand Cricket's loyal servants.

It is also something, almost four months later, he still doesn't like to talk about.

"It's always disappointing when you miss out on an opportunity," McCullum told Sunday News when asked how it felt to be overlooked as captain when regular skipper Daniel Vettori was ruled out on Wednesday because of injury.

"But Ross did a really good job. He was calm under pressure and he certainly helped to make sure Australia scored under 300.

"He obviously played well even with that responsibility on his shoulders when he had his turn to bat.

"Look, there's things that go on in peoples' careers which you can't ... things happen.

"We will have to see how it works out down the track.

"But at the moment I'm just trying to make sure I can focus on what's in front of me and that's trying to win games for New Zealand and score runs and do my job from there."

In early 2009, Vettori, in a telling interview, revealed his desire to stand down as captain of the national side after the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

At the time, he anointed McCullum as a possible successor, something he again reiterated to Sunday News as recently as January.

McCullum was also quick, back in the heady days of 2009, to point out his desire to one day captain the Black Caps.

But now, having lost the vice-captaincy, he's keeping his aspirations a lot closer to his chest.

"I'm a pretty loyal bloke and I make no bones about the fact that there's, I guess, obviously been a little bit of animosity that's been created through the last little while," he said.

"But you move on.

"My job is to score runs for my country and that's what I'm trying to do.

"Whatever happens, happens – and if I miss the boat because of that, so be it.

"But first and foremost I've got to try to score runs and help the team win."

Regardless of what ends up happening with McCullum and the captaincy, few can question the Kiwi keeper's ticker. He's been a regular fixture on the international scene for New Zealand since making his debut in 2002 and rarely misses a match.

In the past, one criticism of McCullum is that for someone with his amazing talent he's often too inconsistent.

But in recent months he's begun to silence the doubters, none more so than last Sunday night when he scored one of the greatest individual innings (116 not out) in an international T20.

"My form hasn't been too bad but I'm under no illusions that you have to continue to get better and that teams are going to work you out," he said.

"In the last three months I've managed to pass three figures on a few occasions so I feel like I'm starting to get there.

"Hopefully, I'm growing in consistency, which is something I've probably lacked throughout my career.

"I'm not sure what's behind it. I've had up-and-down periods throughout my career.

"Sometimes I've gone really well for a period of times and then sometimes it's gotten pretty low.

"When you play the style of game I do and you get yourself into some reasonable form, you are able to maintain it for a period of time.

"The flipside of that is that given the aggressive way I play sometimes I guess you can come up short when things don't go according to plan.

"I'm happy with the way it's going but the main thing, I guess, for me is to continue to try to play influential roles in terms of performances for our team that help us win games."

McCullum, a self-confessed "confidence" player, also has an ominous warning for the touring Aussies – he's just getting warmed up.

"Any time I'm confident and focused on what I need to achieve I think I play a lot better," he said.

"So far, things like that are starting to fall into place. The challenge now is to keep doing it."

- © Fairfax NZ News