Brendan McCullum is a very good wicketkeeper...

[Armadillo]

I've been watching this guy keep for some time now and he impresses me every game. I haven't seen him make a mistake for a while and speaking as a wicketkeeper, he's the perfect role model. He moves his feet, he has soft hands and he stands up a lot to apply pressure. He also seems to be very handy with the bat, not afraid to play his shots. Very underrated IMO. The best wicketkeeper in the world????

 

[luckyeddie]

I've been watching this guy keep for some time now and he impresses me every game. I haven't seen him make a mistake for a while and speaking as a wicketkeeper, he's the perfect role model. He moves his feet, he has soft hands and he stands up a lot to apply pressure. He also seems to be very handy with the bat, not afraid to play his shots. Very underrated IMO. The best wicketkeeper in the world????

The biggest gob.

 

[Tim]

It appears he's come straight out of the same school as Adam Parore, sledging and all. I believe though that McCullum will score more runs as Parore although Parore was arguably just as talented with the bat.

 

[whitedazzler]

i remember one blunder he made which was dropping rahul dravid 2nd ball in the super six game at the world cup. if he had of taken the catch new zealand probably would have won that game as it would have but the indians in a lot of trouble as by memory that had already lost ganguly, tendulkar and sehwag. though apart from that ive found him to be very reliable

 

[Tim]

That was 2 years ago. He rarely makes a mistake behind the stumps these days.

 

[marc71178]

Funny you say that Tim, because one of the Cricinfo Friday columns had him with the worst record for taking chances of all current keepers (71% vs 78% the next)

Of course, that all depends on what is a chance...

 

[shaka]

He is always improving, and must rate highly as a keeper batsman. I rate him 3rd behind Sangakkara and Gilchrist

 

[_Ed_]

I certainly rate him highly, think he's clearly ahead of Boucher now and would have had him in the World XI ahead of Boucher, although of course I'd have had Sangakkara ahead of both of them.

 

[Tim]

In what time-frame were the stats taken? I'd be surprised if McCullum was that low over the last year or two. Certainly in his early days he was dropping a few and missing a number of stumpings.

 

[Jono]

He is a great sledger lol.

I think he's also very good late in the innings in ODIs, he runs between the wickets well and picks the gaps with ease. Very handy in the middle to lower order.

 

[_Ed_]

Those stats could include ones like one he missed last night, but Jack Russell wouldn't have taken that one, it was just too low and too fast while he was standing up to Styris I think it was.

 

[Woody_cloudofsm]

the fact is mcullum does often keep up to the stumps to a lot of dibbly dob medium pacers and spinners making edges very difficult to take making them half chances. Imagine keeping up to styris astle vettori and harris. thats a lot of overs up to the stumps. so maybe thats why his statistics are skewed in terms of chances.

 

[Zinzan]

Another asser McCullum has is that he can play in almost any batting position - Test or ODI. As he proved with that 96 Vs England coming in at 3 at lords.

I actually thinks he's one of NZer's best stroke players

 

[Tim]

I wouldn't be surprised if he opens again. There's not exactly a big line of openers waiting to come into the team..quite frankly, McCullum is probably the best option. Maybe Hamish Marshall could bat #7 or #8 and play the same way McCullum usually does at the end of the innings?

For the Chappell/Hadlee Trophy i'd consider this team:

Fleming
McCullum
Astle
Fulton
Styris
Cairns
Marshall/McMillan
Oram
Vettori
Mills/Adams
Bond

Astle is still worth having in the team, he's more likely to get himself out of poor form than Vincent & Hamish Marshall are.

 

[Zinzan]

I wouldn't be surprised if he opens again. There's not exactly a big line of openers waiting to come into the team..quite frankly, McCullum is probably the best option. Maybe Hamish Marshall could bat #7 or #8 and play the same way McCullum usually does at the end of the innings?

For the Chappell/Hadlee Trophy i'd consider this team:

Fleming
McCullum
Astle
Fulton
Styris
Cairns
Marshall/McMillan
Oram
Vettori
Mills/Adams
Bond

Astle is still worth having in the team, he's more likely to get himself out of poor form than Vincent & Hamish Marshall are.

Yeah I could live with McCullum up the order as well.......

My team on current form (apart from cairns) would be .....

Fleming
McCullum
Astle
Vincent
Styris
Cairns
Mcmillan
Vettori
Adams
Mills
Bond

Yes its goodbye for now to Marshall (needs a rest) and Oram (I find it ironic that he's even in the squad at the moment given the reasons the selectors used for dropping cairns)

That batting card has a lot of strength...and i like the idea of Mcmillan coming in that low for the slog overs. Obviously I'd bring Oram in again when he starts bowling properly again

 

[Tim]

I think they'll almost certainly bring Cairns back for the Trophy in December.

And if Fulton doesn't play against Australia, I think he'll at least be in the squad v Sri Lanka and The West Indies.

 

[Zinzan]

I think they'll almost certainly bring Cairns back for the Trophy in December.

And if Fulton doesn't play against Australia, I think he'll at least be in the squad v Sri Lanka and The West Indies.

I must admit that apart from Fulton's impressive record.........I've hardly seen him play. I know he's a tall lad. Anyone he reminds you of battingwise??

 

[Tim]

Similar stroke-play to Mark Waugh. His cover-drives are phenomenal.

 

[Zinzan]

Similar stroke-play to Mark Waugh. His cover-drives are phenomenal.

Quite a compliment.What of his backfoot play??

 

[Lyell_Chris]

Yes its goodbye for now to Marshall (needs a rest) and Oram (I find it ironic that he's even in the squad at the moment given the reasons the selectors used for dropping cairns)

we all know the real reason cairns was dropped cough..turner...cough

what about Tama Canning in the odi's