It is better to bid goodbye to the game of cricket when people ask ‘why’ rather than quitting the game by force or when sadly out of form. Brendon McCullum chose the right moment to call it a day and that too celebrating the occasion with a majestic hundred when the chips were down for his team New Zealand. He made mince meat of an Australian attack on the first day of a test match at Christchurch on a placid wicket. He came, saw and conquered the cricketing field with his belligerent approach, electrifying stroke play and an energetic attack on the fresh Aussie bowlers. It was the most calculated innings ever played in International cricket. McCullum got a life when he was on 39 as the bowler overstepped and helped out his cause in making a match of it. He never looked back again and massacred the attack to all parts of the ground with disdain in a power packed innings. Making 145 of 79 balls at an astonishing strike rate of 183.54 helped his side to make 370 in a single day from a precarious position of 32 for 3. His stroke filled innings saw him beat the record held by Vivian Richards by scoring a 54 ball hundred lasting 78 minutes to achieve the land mark. McCullum was confidence personified from the word go and in his last test match also he looked to be the best of the best from the Kiwi side. The batsman’s magical moments will go a long way and mingle in the minds of cricket lovers all over the world for many more years.
C.K. Subramaniam
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
