McCullum, Southee star for Black Caps

BY HAMISH BIDWELL

Extraordinary. On a night when Brendon McCullum played one of the all-time great limited overs innings, who could ever have imagined that he would end up being upstaged by a teammate?

But with Australia looking a fair dinkum certainty to overhaul New Zealand's mammoth total of 214, fast-medium bowler Tim Southee produced the overs of his life to save his side's bacon during the regulation period of the Twenty20 international at AMI Stadium and then again in the Super Over, after the scores were tied.

Southee earned kudos enough by conceding just 11 off the 20th over, but going for just six in the eliminator was bordering on the miraculous.

McCullum and Martin Guptill duly scored the seven needed to put the final exclamation point on a crazy night of cricket and hand New Zealand victory in a match they had looked sure to both win and lose, at different times.

So much of what happened defied belief, not least McCullum's audacious 116 not out from 56 balls. The second highest individual score in a T20 international, it helped propel his team to a seemingly impregnable position at the change of innings.

It's amazing to think New Zealand were even able to post such a score, given the parlous state their innings had deteriorated to at 77 for four in the 11th over. In that respect Gareth Hopkins deserves enormous credit for the hand that he played.

Busy and intelligent, he was just the player the Black Caps needed at the crease after the dim batting that had preceded him.

It's hard to think of too many flash ducks, but Peter Ingram's was one of the worst and will have provided more ammunition for the brigade that believe he simply doesn't have the footwork to succeed at international level. Ross Taylor, too, did some daft things and his runout was a fitting end to a strange innings.

Through it all, McCullum was magnificent. Orthodox at times, brave and inventive at others, his was a knock that none in the crowd of 26,148 will forget in a hurry.

AMI is a small ground, as the Australian bowlers learned each time they dropped short, but McCullum's ability to ramp balls off his nose was simply remarkable. To do it off bowling consistently around the 150kmh mark requires unbelievable nerve. Backstop tends to be a fielding position only seen in little kids' cricket, but international captains might have to adopt it shortly if T20 continues to evolve in this fashion.

By comparison, Australia's batting approach was more muscular and conventional, with David Warner striking some good early blows on his way to 20. New Zealand is not heavy on genuinely world-class players, but Shane Bond again showed he's in the bracket, dismissing Warner during a three-over opening spell of one for 14.

That brought captain Michael Clarke, who was to go on to provide the glue for a well-paced chase. His play was thoughtful, rather than over-powering and with Daniel Vettori giving him no pace to work with, Clarke initially struggled to generate the force to hit the ball to and over the fence.

Something had to give and it was Brad Haddin's patience, smearing one down Ingram's throat at midwicket after an innings of 47 from 36.

The required run rate then soared from its original 10.75 to more than 13 with six overs to go and Australia had no option but to swing the bat at everything.

Clarke continued to chip the ball around effectively and found the perfect foil in Cameron White. He got them to an equation of 49 from 24, when Vettori went back to trump card Bond for his final over.

It went for 13 and a match that at times looked as if it would be New Zealand's took a distinct turn in Australia's favour.

Amazingly, for a game of such short duration, more twists to the plot followed and it all came down to a final scenario of 12 runs from six balls, after White clubbed his way to 50 in the 19th over.

Clarke and White were good, but Southee was better and we ended with a tied ball game and the lottery of the one-over eliminator.

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