Brendon McCullum to retire after upcoming Australia series

[Bahnz]

To the surprise of absolutely no-one, Brendon McCullum is about to announce that the upcoming test series against Australia will be his last. He also won't be going to the world T20 later in the year.

Brendon McCullum to quit Black Caps, last match will be in February - Sport - NZ Herald News

Pity, his absence will definitely leave a big hole (even if his form and method this season haven't been fantastic). But his skill and experience against quality pace bowling will definitely be missed when we tour SA next year. And we'll obviously miss his T20 batting enormously - consistently one of the top 5 best T20 bats throughout his career imo.

 

[Athlai]

Hoping we send him off in a big way by beating the Australians. Will be a cracker of a series.

 

[Bahnz]

Also raises an interesting question as to who should take over the captaincy. Do you appoint Taylor as a caretaker captain for a couple of years (unlikely I know given how his last stint turned out), or do you throw Williamson in the deep-end?

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Still not going to forgive him for dropping that catch against India in the World Cup.

 

[Gnske]

Also raises an interesting question as to who should take over the captaincy. Do you appoint Taylor as a caretaker captain for a couple of years (unlikely I know given how his last stint turned out), or do you throw Williamson in the deep-end?

Might as well, right now batting is just a pitiful chore that needs to be brushed aside.

Pity about McCullum too, don't want him to leave. He's made cricket so interesting of late with his meme-tier play and his lose-to-win mantra coupled with his theses on earning the right to be aggressive.

 

[Contra]

Still not going to forgive him for dropping that catch against India in the World Cup.

Uh when was this? lol.

Surprised he's skipping World T20, thought he'd want to have a crack at winning it, especially consider T20 is his best format.

 

[Bahnz]

Uh when was this? lol.

2003

Around the 2:25 mark. Take note watson, RTB holds a grudge.

 

[Cabinet96]

Yeah, not playing the World T20 is weird.

 

[_Ed_]

Knew it was coming, but still sad. I'll have to make sure I go to one of the Eden Park games this summer to see him bat one more time.

 

[Niall]

Yeah, not playing the World T20 is weird.

Agreed. Nobody has close to the experience he has in India when it comes to T20 due to the IPL. Very odd he is not hanging around for that. What hitter are they planning to replace him with at the top?

 

[Energetic]

He's a good, cool and talented cricketer, but nothing great. He underachieved for sure. His captaincy is world-class, and likely to affect New Zealand hard. Good captaincy makes a big difference in this sport.

 

[Jono]

To the surprise of absolutely no-one.

I mustn't have kept up with the rumours and his comments, because this caught be by surprise. Thought he had another few years left in him. In fact his sixes record was discussed on "Inside Cricket" here in Aus and Mark Waugh said that he's likely to go on for another 2 years at least and so will significantly widen the gap between him and Gilly.

Evidently not.

 

[Blain]

Classic Aussie media making up their own opinions and telling all as fact without actually doing some research.. As an NRL/Warriors supporter it drives me insane!

Real shame he's not going to the T20 World Cup, seemed like the ideal swansong? I'm interested to know why not. No.5 is going to have some big shoes to fill! (I'm not thinking Anderson, Santner or Neesham BTW... they are all good 6/7 options IMO, Anderson probably the only one who has the potential to move up, but needs to produce more runs)

 

[NZTailender]

Had such a love/hate fan relationship with McCullum over the years. Frustration at his continual waste of talent early on, but at the same time acknowledging he was a gun keeper. And then later on, elation at his mature batting only for brain dead shot selection to keep coming to the fore. He's certainly been entertaining though, in more ways than one. The Black Caps and cricket in general will miss him.

 

[jcas0167]

He's earned the right to retire.

 

[Bahnz]

I mustn't have kept up with the rumours and his comments, because this caught be by surprise. Thought he had another few years left in him. In fact his sixes record was discussed on "Inside Cricket" here in Aus and Mark Waugh said that he's likely to go on for another 2 years at least and so will significantly widen the gap between him and Gilly.

Evidently not.

Yeah all the talk in the NZ media was that he'd call it quits after this season. In fact there was quite a bit of speculation that he'd finish after the 2015 World Cup, but obviously the lure of a series win over the Aussies was enough to bring him back for one more year.

 

[_Ed_]

Real shame he's not going to the T20 World Cup, seemed like the ideal swansong? I'm interested to know why not.

He said in the press conference: "There's something pretty romantic about finishing in front of New Zealand crowds and New Zealand grounds."

If we managed to get up and win that test series against Australia, that would be pretty much the perfect way for him to sign off.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah but I think he should still be around for the WT20 at least as a player given it happens once in 2 or 3 years. But he has had an excellent and a memorable career, even though he will never really be amongst the greats. I have always enjoyed watching him bat and will surely miss watching him come down the track and smash 150 kph bowlers internationally. Too bad CSK aren't around when he is available for the full season.

 

[Contra]

I still don't see why he couldn't retire from ODI's and Tests in NZ and go for the world T20, I figured he would continue to play cricket in IPL/other franchising anyway so no reason not to play world T20.

In any case it just makes it easier for the other teams, so not too much to complain about ;P

 

[thierry henry]

Over the course of the last 24 months his methods as a captain and a batsman have succeeded far more often than not and led or contributed to some fantastic results.

Generally over the course of the last 14 years I have not enjoyed his approach to the game and don't really agree with the way he has gone about things as either a captain or a batsman.

He happens to be the second high profile NZ cricketer to have retired in the last 12 months whose cricket I have not really enjoyed at all and while I absolutely recognise that both of these blokes are better cricketers than any available replacements, I hope I am right that there might actually be something to gain from their departure in terms of the way we go about our cricket.

Apologies to anyone I have offended with my egotistical need to voice as calmly as I can a contrary and perhaps negative opinion on this matter at a probably inappropriate time, but I decided it was better here than as a flame-war instigator on Facebook