Brendon McCullum: Play The Game Because It’s Fun

Three months on from his international retirement, Brendon McCullum gives the impression of a man happy with life as I join him in a West London pub a few days before he delivers his MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s.

While fans the world over craved another ride on the helter skelter before closing time, McCullum decided that he’d had his fill, signing off from international duty with an innings that encapsulated his attitude to the game.

“I thought I’d go out swinging,” he says, pint in hand with notes in preparation for his lecture scattered across the table. “I’d never have been able to live with myself if I’d
 got out defending in my last Test match! I was like: ‘Kane Williamson, best player in the world, greatest defensive technique around, and he can’t lay bat on it!’ I don’t have a defensive technique, so there’s no chance I’m gonna play like that. I turned round to BJ Watling and said, ‘Mate, I’ve only got one way to play here’.”

Coming in on the first morning of his final Test, with
 the Kiwis 32-3 on a green Christchurch seamer against 
a rampant Australian attack, McCullum had a hoick second ball, clearing his front leg and streakily edging 
to the boundary. Three balls later he launched Mitchell Marsh back over his head to break Adam Gilchrist’s record tally of sixes in Test cricket and then hit a further three boundaries from his next four deliveries. It was the kind of start to a Test innings that only very few are capable of and even fewer would dare attempt.

In a little over two hours at the crease McCullum hit 21 fours and six sixes, reaching his century from 54 balls, the fastest hundred in Test history. It was carnage – a fitting denouement to a career that in many ways has mirrored the metamorphosis of the game as a whole over the past 15 years. But why call it a day now when the going’s this good?

I ask McCullum if a player confided in him now, and
 told him he had been approached to set up a fix, would he encourage the player to share that evidence with the ICC, even though his own experience of whistle-blowing was such a chastening one. “Yes, without a doubt. I’d tell them to make sure they get it on file, get it on tape and make sure the process is right, so that person is protected as well. Otherwise you’ll get nobody coming forward. It took me ages to come forward – there are various reasons behind that – but the education players receive now is at a stage where you need to come forward. I’d go with them as well, without a doubt, to make sure it was done properly.”

Does he think cricket is clean now? “I think you hope
it’s clean. We’ve had challenges over the last few years 
and we’ll consistently have challenges over the next few years. It’s just how we deal with them. I think the game will always have people who aren’t 110 per cent committed to trying to win, and that’s just sport in general. It’s how we deal with those people that’s important.”

McCullum says that while “I hate what he did”, he believes Mohammad Amir has served his time and deserves his second chance. “One of the key things is that Mohammad Amir admitted his guilt. He put his hand up, admitted he’d wronged the game and then went about serving his time and going through the right steps.”

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McCullum insists his lecture isn’t the first step into
a career in cricketing politics, and says he looks forward to having some separation from the game when he eventually calls time on his T20 world tour, which has brought him to Middlesex this summer. He’s firmly in favour of day-night Test matches – “I’ll admit
 I was slightly hesitant but it works, it definitely works”
 – has concerns about the relevance of international T20 
– “Test and one-day cricket are two incredible products that we can take to market, there’s no need for another one” – and cautiously advocates an English franchise tournament. But these aren’t the topics of conversation that grab him. It’s when he talks about his teammates and the experiences they’ve shared that he really lights up. Tom Latham: “What a bloke! An incredible read on the game. Good captaincy potential.” Mitchell Santner: “He’s
a gun, eh? Plays off scratch, throws darts like Michael van Gerwen – genius!” Kane Williamson: “One of those guys who you look at and genuinely wish he was your son.” Matt Henry: “He’s a champion as well. Can bowl, proper bowler.”

“That’s what it’s all about I reckon. That’s why you got into the game. Only because the stakes go up do people lose sight of that. The pressures that you come under make you change as a bloke. Not only how you play the game, but also how you are as a person. There’s no need for it. So just get back to playing the game because it’s fun.

“You’re going to come into the game at 20, hopefully leave at 35 or 36. You’re going to grow up a lot during that time, you’re going to meet someone, you’re going to have kids. From where you were when you initially came into the set-up, to where you are when you leave… you’ve lived a life, effectively. So you need to embrace it and allow people the opportunity to develop at their own pace. From 20-35: greatest years of your life! You just happen to be playing cricket for your country.”

When pressed on what the future might hold for him, he shrugs. “We’ll see what happens.” He says he might fancy
a gig in T20 franchise coaching but wants to give New Zealand cricket some breathing space. For the time being, though, he’s just happy doing what he’s doing. Those days of visualising what might be around the corner are long gone. “I’ve pretty much done what I’ve wanted to do in the game. Now I just want to play T20, have a good time, try and slog a few over the ropes and be part of a good team. If we lose, we lose. But we’ll have a good time.”