His cricket, though, is not about those explosive bursts alone. It’s also about consistency, patience, fitness and durability.
New Zealand cricket’s Milestone Man, gobbling up long distances on the cricketing highway, became the player with most consecutive appearances from debut in Tests at Hamilton on Friday. McCullum went past South African A.B. de Villiers’ mark of 98 successive Tests.
It’s a remarkable achievement for a cricketer who played a large portion of his career in the physically and mentally demanding role of a wicketkeeper-batsman. McCullum has evolved and excelled too as a pro-active skipper with motivational skills and a wide array of tricks.
Interestingly, McCullum began his Test journey against South Africa in Hamilton in 2004. He made an immediate impact, ‘keeping wickets with flair, making a strokeful 57 in the first innings and earning a promotion to an opening slot in the second.
When the 34-year-old McCullum, his cricket retaining its aggression over the years, returned to Hamilton against Sri Lanka for his record-breaking 99th Test, he had got back to the arena where it all began.
In 98 Tests before the ongoing one, McCullum has 6,237 runs at 38.73. The lively Kiwi has also taken 192 catches and effected 11 stumpings.
McCullum already has an important place in the Kiwi cricketing history. When he steered Zaheer Khan to the fence and celebrated with unusual frenzy in the 2014 Test against India at Wellington, McCullum had become the first batsman from his country to notch up a triple hundred in Tests.
Apart from the indomitable de Villiers, McCullum has overtaken legends Adam Gilchrist (96) and Rahul Dravid (93), for most successive Test appearances.
The race between McCullum and de Villiers promises to get interesting in the days to come. Both are dashers who have now become Test cricket’s marathoners.
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