Brendon McCullum
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Have heard this in an interview on trackside before but still a great read.
He became my favourite NZ cricketer after I was first so annoyed he was made captain. I couldn't have thought of a worse person for the job, but sporting ignorance is bliss but blind. He was perfect for the job.
He's just moved to Matamata which is great. Loves his golf as well.
Apparently I am playing in his team for an ambrose tournament with the local publican and one other in November.
Bring him up here, I wanna boof him
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Plenty of excerpts in Stuff today - sounds like it might be an interesting read.
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I loved the article last night with his views on a topic that we otherwise have to be very careful on commenting about.
One sporting autobiography that I might actually buy for once (or drop hints at for a Birthday/Christmas prezzie...)
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And I'm just about dancing round the office remembering this game:
I never thought I'd hear a roar like the one Eden Park delivered when Kane finished off the Aussies with a six, but this is at least its equal. Everyone goes nuts.
In the bowels of the stadium, the two Indian caterers - I wish I knew their names - jump on me and the three of us dance round the dunnies together, then I rush through to the dressing room and out to the front. The boys are ecstatic, but out in the middle, Grant is perhaps the only one who's still composed. After a huge victory pump and a hug with Dan, he bends down to a shattered Dale Steyn and offers him a hand up.
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Self righteous piston wristed gibbon.
One of the excerpts on stuff about the Cairns trial finishes with the words "Jesus Wept"
Can't stand McCullum and his holier than thou attitude.
Vincent lied about everything, his wife was pissed as fuck. If that's 2 of the only 3 witnesses then be prepared to get called out. The judge was just summarising the facts
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Some one is a Cairns fan/relative.....
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He let the BC's down in the 2015 CWC final though with his irresponsible batting. Had the talent but never had the brains.
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@akan004 said in Brendon McCullum:
He let the BC's down in the 2015 CWC final though with his irresponsible batting. Had the talent but never had the brains.
My argument to that is that is the way he has always batted in the tournament and ODI's. I think people would have been more critical had he changed his style and went cheaply. You can't win with people like you that celebrate victories purely because of his style and then bemoan failures becasue of his style.
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@Hooroo said in Brendon McCullum:
@akan004 said in Brendon McCullum:
He let the BC's down in the 2015 CWC final though with his irresponsible batting. Had the talent but never had the brains.
My argument to that is that is the way he has always batted in the tournament and ODI's. I think people would have been more critical had he changed his style and went cheaply. You can't win with people like you that celebrate victories purely because of his style and then bemoan failures becasue of his style.
BS. He was up against Starc who had the ball moving around like Wasim Akram and had just beaten McCullum with two in swinging balls just before Brendan decided to play the hero. Play your natural game by all means, but at least have the brains to do it against the other Aussie bowlers, not an in form Starc. FYI, I was very critical of him in the semi against SA as well. He got them off to a fantastic start and the responsible thing to have done was to be a bit more cautious, bat through the innings and see them through comfortably, and not carry on charging every second ball.
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@akan004 said in Brendon McCullum:
@Hooroo said in Brendon McCullum:
@akan004 said in Brendon McCullum:
He let the BC's down in the 2015 CWC final though with his irresponsible batting. Had the talent but never had the brains.
My argument to that is that is the way he has always batted in the tournament and ODI's. I think people would have been more critical had he changed his style and went cheaply. You can't win with people like you that celebrate victories purely because of his style and then bemoan failures becasue of his style.
BS. He was up against Starc who had the ball moving around like Wasim Akram and had just beaten McCullum with two in swinging balls just before Brendan decided to play the hero. Play your natural game by all means, but at least have the brains to do it against the other Aussie bowlers, not an in form Starc. FYI, I was very critical of him in the semi against SA as well. He got them off to a fantastic start and the responsible thing to have done was to be a bit more cautious, bat through the innings and see them through comfortably, and not carry on charging every second ball.
Or just bat Starc out of the attack.
Didn't work but could of. That is the risks he always took.
People like you are always highlighting error and silent on success. Good for you mate
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@Hooroo said in Brendon McCullum:
@akan004 said in Brendon McCullum:
@Hooroo said in Brendon McCullum:
@akan004 said in Brendon McCullum:
He let the BC's down in the 2015 CWC final though with his irresponsible batting. Had the talent but never had the brains.
My argument to that is that is the way he has always batted in the tournament and ODI's. I think people would have been more critical had he changed his style and went cheaply. You can't win with people like you that celebrate victories purely because of his style and then bemoan failures becasue of his style.
BS. He was up against Starc who had the ball moving around like Wasim Akram and had just beaten McCullum with two in swinging balls just before Brendan decided to play the hero. Play your natural game by all means, but at least have the brains to do it against the other Aussie bowlers, not an in form Starc. FYI, I was very critical of him in the semi against SA as well. He got them off to a fantastic start and the responsible thing to have done was to be a bit more cautious, bat through the innings and see them through comfortably, and not carry on charging every second ball.
Or just bat Starc out of the attack.
Didn't work but could of. That is the risks he always took.
People like you are always highlighting error and silent on success. Good for you mate
And people like you failing to be critical just because he is one of NZ's sporting darlings. FYI, I am not the only one who feels this way.He got a lot of flak at the time from cricket lovers all around the world. You just need to learn to be objective.
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@Hooroo said in Brendon McCullum:
@akan004 said in Brendon McCullum:
@Hooroo said in Brendon McCullum:
@akan004 said in Brendon McCullum:
He let the BC's down in the 2015 CWC final though with his irresponsible batting. Had the talent but never had the brains.
My argument to that is that is the way he has always batted in the tournament and ODI's. I think people would have been more critical had he changed his style and went cheaply. You can't win with people like you that celebrate victories purely because of his style and then bemoan failures becasue of his style.
BS. He was up against Starc who had the ball moving around like Wasim Akram and had just beaten McCullum with two in swinging balls just before Brendan decided to play the hero. Play your natural game by all means, but at least have the brains to do it against the other Aussie bowlers, not an in form Starc. FYI, I was very critical of him in the semi against SA as well. He got them off to a fantastic start and the responsible thing to have done was to be a bit more cautious, bat through the innings and see them through comfortably, and not carry on charging every second ball.
Didn't work but could of. That is the risks he always took
That there is the crux isn't it, he never changed the way he played, always attacked, he lived and died by that attitude.
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@taniwharugby That's it. He always played like that but people whine and whine when it doesn't come off but enjoy the spoils of victory when it doesn't.
Some people are just a bit sad with that sort of thing
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Does he have a book coming out or something? Seems like an odd number of articles about him today.
Good captain and player but too often lacked the temperament or attitude to make the most of his talent. The peak of that was probably his dismissal of Martin Crowe's advice, which made him come off like a complete knob. Still, he's the guy who broke the 300 barrier and led the team to NZ's first CWC final, so full credit to him for those achievements.
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I think commentary on BMac and his batting in the final is overblown. Starc ripped through everyone in that World Cup except for the Sri Lankans in the Group Stages who were chasing a mammoth total anyway. Black Caps were 9 for 140 odd in the Eden Park game v the Aussies too.
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@jegga said in Brendon McCullum:
@SammyC http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2016/10/face-of-the-day-1131/
Firstly, conflating the captaincy saga and the blithering ineptness of NZC around that time with the court proceedings in the UK alleging perjury is like comparing the local club rugby final with the world cup final. It's possible to believe that neither person is a perfect angel (e.g. Trump vs Clinton) without it completely discrediting the claims one of them make.
Secondly, two comments under the blog stand out for me...
It is a clever tactic on the part of Cairns - call up one of his detractors, be polite, provide some evidence of his innocence and discredit one of the key witnesses against him. Reading the comments here, I am surprised at the vitriol being poured on Brendan McCullum. [text not copied just in case] it does make it much harder to prove that match fixing took place, and the whole perjury case hung on that. Cairns was well aware of this. On top of that, elite sportsmen are taught never to give up - they develop a mental toughness that is required both on and off the field. Cairns always knew his chances of walking free were good. After the trial, he set about retrieving his own shattered reputation by damaging the reputation of others. We should not fall for this.
But most depressingly...
To be honest, I have no interest in either Cairns or McCullum, or cricket as a whole for that matter. What has been shown over the past few years is cricket is rigged and corrupt at an international level. A lot of sport has become less about the game, and more about the greed.
I'll never give up on the game, but this stuff gets depressing when you see players who have been found guily of corruption (whether or not it makes you suspect a tip of the iceberg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cricketers_banned_for_corruption (and at a much lower level of proof needed than a perjury trial in the High Court because they were still under ICC jurisdiction).
Forgetting both Cairns and McCullum for a moment, there's some stuff out there in cricket that does make me happily wish a 'holier than thou Jesus wept' on them. And a whole lot of shit worse...
It's the distrust that gets brought in around the whole sport that's the killer. If cricket ever ends up like the Tour de France for that...
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@akan004 said in Brendon McCullum:
And people like you failing to be critical just because he is one of NZ's sporting darlings. FYI, I am not the only one who feels this way. He got a lot of flak at the time from cricket lovers all around the world. You just need to learn to be objective.
So what? there's a lot of people in NZ who don't like rugby, or in world rugby who think Ritchie McCaw is a cheat. If public opinion is part of learning to be objective, count me out...
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@Donsteppa said in Brendon McCullum:
@akan004 said in Brendon McCullum:
And people like you failing to be critical just because he is one of NZ's sporting darlings. FYI, I am not the only one who feels this way. He got a lot of flak at the time from cricket lovers all around the world. You just need to learn to be objective.
So what? there's a lot of people in NZ who don't like rugby, or in world rugby who think Ritchie McCaw is a cheat. If public opinion is part of learning to be objective, count me out...
Difference being Brendon was well liked by most of the cricketing world and most neutrals were desperate to see Australia lose that final.
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@akan004 said in Brendon McCullum:
@Donsteppa said in Brendon McCullum:
@akan004 said in Brendon McCullum:
And people like you failing to be critical just because he is one of NZ's sporting darlings. FYI, I am not the only one who feels this way. He got a lot of flak at the time from cricket lovers all around the world. You just need to learn to be objective.
So what? there's a lot of people in NZ who don't like rugby, or in world rugby who think Ritchie McCaw is a cheat. If public opinion is part of learning to be objective, count me out...
Difference being Brendon was well liked by most of the cricketing world and most neutrals were desperate to see Australia lose that final.
And I'd refer them to the post by @KiwiMurph
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Reading that excerpt, I think I might have to go find the footage and rewatch the semi. Maybe the game against Aussie too.
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Look, about the CWC final: it wasn't that McCullum was shit. Its just that Starc was so much better than him.
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@NTA said in Brendon McCullum:
Look, about the CWC final: it wasn't that McCullum was shit. Its just that Starc was so much better than him.
And most other batsmen that day, and throughout much of the tournament.
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Yeah. Some fucking amazing stats, and he missed out on the opportunity to rip the Bangles a new one as well on a Gabba deck that would have swung like Austin Powers...
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@Hooroo said in Brendon McCullum:
@taniwharugby That's it. He always played like that but people whine and whine when it doesn't come off but enjoy the spoils of victory when it doesn't.
Some people are just a bit sad with that sort of thing
I think my issue was with McCullum is you can't play the "I'm just doing the role I was asked" card when you dish out the roles.
Talent wise he was a top 3 batsman in an order that lacked genuinely talented batsman relative to the other nations. We needed him to play in a constructive way that allowed him the possibility to score big runs - look at Guppy's efforts in the QF - a circumspect first few overs does not preclude you from scoring BIG runs very quickly.
If he thought an indiscriminate skirmish was required at the top of the order he should have promoted Ronchi and shouldered a bigger role down the order himself.
Lead from the front is not a term that comes to mind when looking at his efforts that CWC - especially when contrasting with Crowe, Waugh, de Silva, even Ponting etc
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starc was in great form and the ball was moving around a lot. my personal preference would have been for baz to pad up thinking i'll hit this fella out of the attack - but then to see it doing so much and be a bit more circumspect. but he never, ever had the ability to adjust his game to the conditions.
oh actually that's right he did. once. and he scored 3 fucking hundred. -
@Donsteppa said in Brendon McCullum:
@NTA said in Brendon McCullum:
Look, about the CWC final: it wasn't that McCullum was shit. Its just that Starc was so much better than him.
And most other batsmen that day, and throughout much of the tournament.
Boult had much similar statistics heading into the game however a semblance of technique saw him off in the final.
Grant Elliot scored 83 on that deck - it was not a greentop.
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the problem with just focusing on Starc is you ignore the fact that Johnson and Hazlewood were right on the money that game as well. Their opening 3 bowlers were fast, right on point with their line and length, and moving it about. Just playing them out was going to cost us about 15 unproductive overs in a comp where 300 wasn't enough.
Their bowlers were too good that day. And their relentless pressure was why we lost cheap wickets to shit bowlers as we tried to play catch up (fucking Maxwell getting a wicket in his first over was so predictable given the opening spells).
We were actually decently placed after 30, but mentally under the pump.
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Um.
CWC final. Baz played like a complete numpty first few balls and could have got out. Third ball or whenever he was dismissed he actually played an orthodoxish but tentative prod.
So maybe he did asses the situation and change his game, just that it lasted one delivery.
Starc too good.
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@rotated said in Brendon McCullum:
@Donsteppa said in Brendon McCullum:
@NTA said in Brendon McCullum:
Look, about the CWC final: it wasn't that McCullum was shit. Its just that Starc was so much better than him.
And most other batsmen that day, and throughout much of the tournament.
Boult had much similar statistics heading into the game however a semblance of technique saw him off in the final.
Grant Elliot scored 83 on that deck - it was not a greentop.
And outside of Elliot, was it only McCullum who didn't score big runs that day?
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Then why did we choose to bat up against such a formidable, unplayable bowling attack? We had only bent them over a few weeks earlier bowling first.
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@rotated said in Brendon McCullum:
Then why did we choose to bat up against such a formidable, unplayable bowling attack? We had only bent them over a few weeks earlier bowling first.
Maybe the coach and captain looked at the pitch in both instances?
Somewhat ironically we scored more runs in the final than in the pool game (if chasing a lower total, but 9 down at the end of it).
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@rotated said in Brendon McCullum:
Then why did we choose to bat up against such a formidable, unplayable bowling attack? We had only bent them over a few weeks earlier bowling first.
haha bitter hindsight much?
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@mariner4life said in Brendon McCullum:
@rotated said in Brendon McCullum:
Then why did we choose to bat up against such a formidable, unplayable bowling attack? We had only bent them over a few weeks earlier bowling first.
haha bitter hindsight much?
Not at all, but if you are going to argue we were so outgunned by their bowlers that our only hope was to blindly attack - then you have to consider why we chose to bat first to begin with.
Batting second with a total set is generally a better approach if you have a more fragile batting order. The odds of an Aussie collapse batting first (ala Eden Park) was surely more likely than a 50 over assault on the biggest ground in cricket.
It's a bit of a rabbit hole - but I walked away from the final thinking we didn't play the percentages well at all.
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Could have it been becasue the Final was in Oz and when we beat them it was in NZ? Gernally Oz have better batting tracks?
I don't know the answer, just speculating
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@rotated said in Brendon McCullum:
@mariner4life said in Brendon McCullum:
@rotated said in Brendon McCullum:
Then why did we choose to bat up against such a formidable, unplayable bowling attack? We had only bent them over a few weeks earlier bowling first.
haha bitter hindsight much?
Not at all, but if you are going to argue we were so outgunned by their bowlers that our only hope was to blindly attack - then you have to consider why we chose to bat first to begin with.
Batting second with a total set is generally a better approach if you have a more fragile batting order.
The argument (with my bitter hindsight) is that Starc was just too bloody good on the day. All the plans you like don't count for much when in a split second you're missing one at 140kmph plus... Had McCullum (Or Guptill, Taylor, Williamson, Ronchi, or Anderson) pulled out a 150, the Aussies might have been saying similar things. .
It's also a stretch to say that we'd "bent them over" a few weeks earlier by one whole wicket too...
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@rotated said in Brendon McCullum:
@mariner4life said in Brendon McCullum:
@rotated said in Brendon McCullum:
Then why did we choose to bat up against such a formidable, unplayable bowling attack? We had only bent them over a few weeks earlier bowling first.
haha bitter hindsight much?
Not at all, but if you are going to argue we were so outgunned by their bowlers that our only hope was to blindly attack - then you have to consider why we chose to bat first to begin with.
Batting second with a total set is generally a better approach if you have a more fragile batting order.
why do you keep saying "so outgunned" and shit about their attack? They were all on that day, but rarely happens.
I thought batting first and posting 300 was the go, as i thought the pressure would get to the Aussie batsmen. But they had a good day, we had a bad day, and their batsmen were under no pressure when they came out. That's sport.
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@Donsteppa said in Brendon McCullum:
It's also a stretch to say that we'd "bent them over" a few weeks earlier by one whole wicket too...
We bent them over bowling first.
@mariner4life said in Brendon McCullum:
@rotated said in Brendon McCullum:
@mariner4life said in Brendon McCullum:
@rotated said in Brendon McCullum:
Then why did we choose to bat up against such a formidable, unplayable bowling attack? We had only bent them over a few weeks earlier bowling first.
haha bitter hindsight much?
Not at all, but if you are going to argue we were so outgunned by their bowlers that our only hope was to blindly attack - then you have to consider why we chose to bat first to begin with.
Batting second with a total set is generally a better approach if you have a more fragile batting order.
why do you keep saying "so outgunned" and shit about their attack? They were all on that day, but rarely happens.
I thought batting first and posting 300 was the go, as i thought the pressure would get to the Aussie batsmen. But they had a good day, we had a bad day, and their batsmen were under no pressure when they came out. That's sport.
I'm saying that because the argument for McCullum's blind attack is basically "our only path to victory was getting off to a quick start and bludgeoning them out of the attack".
If getting off to a quick start was important I would have given Ronchi the McCullum role much in the tradition of Greatbatch and McMillan who were struggling attacking batsmen - who offered a lower risk.
I honestly felt like Aussie would've gone into that game bowling first thinking big scores from Taylor, McCullum and Williamson could sink them. Even if McCullum "came off" like he did with his 50 in the semi - we still basically needed a century and only had two guys capable of getting them and our largely out of form and longish tail exposed (god bless Guppy's efforts in the QF and Elliots in the semi and final).
Even
Each to their own - Baz wanted to go out on the front foot or whatever, I would have rather gone out playing the percentages.
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@Hooroo said in Brendon McCullum:
Some one is a Cairns fan/relative.....
We're all related down here @Hooroo
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Sitting up in the Ponsford stand that day I really wished we had bowled first..... :(. They got out of the gate so fast, Starc was awesome but in fact the whole attack was brilliant. There seemed no hope of waiting it out to profit off the weaker change bowlers because they all bowled well
