Brendon McCullum only landed in England from the IPL a couple of days ago but adapting to Test-match conditions in May is just the sort of challenge he relishes
Andrew McGlashan at Lord's20-May-20154:40
‘Expecting a humdinger of a series’ – Butcher
It is tempting to wonder what all the fuss is about. So, Brendon McCullum has flown in two days before a Test match. If he’d flown in wearing a cape it would not have been surprising. This is the man who, in little more than a year, has scored his country’s first Test triple hundred, two doubles (including one off 186 balls) and another innings of 195 off 134 deliveries.Then he reinvented the one-day captaincy manual, making a packed slips cordon the new must-have accessory while leading New Zealand to their first World Cup final, in the process scoring 328 runs at a strike rate nudging 200, which included shredding Dale Steyn in that semi-final for the ages in Auckland. Few will also forget his onslaught against England, in Wellington, when he plundered 77 off 25 balls.And he hasn’t exactly been quiet since the World Cup finished, either. In the IPL he amassed 436 runs in 14 matches for Chennai Super Kings including a century off 56 balls.So, hopping on a flight from India, arriving in London on Monday morning and having just a couple of nets before a Test match in early season English conditions? Sounds like a challenge he will relish.In all seriousness, the preparation for McCullum – and three senior team-mates, Kane Williamson, Tim Southee and Trent Boult – is far from ideal. Players should have every chance to be in the best possible shape for a Test match. When a touring team has to make up the numbers there is a problem (although a by-product of that was the performances of Ben Wheeler, which may earn higher honours sooner rather than later). But you can only fit so much cricket into 365 days.Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson only arrived in England a few days before the Test•Getty Images”You always want more, but you have to understand the landscape of your season,” McCullum said. “We are happy. Yes, the IPL players would have liked a bit more but we have been playing cricket in pressure environments. The guys are very professional. There are challenges coming from the IPL but it was only last year when he went to West Indies and got 500 in the first innings, so it can work as a positive as well. It’s certainly not an excuse.”In a perfect world all four of the Test players would have been available for both warm-up games, rather than Southee and Boult bowling into a baseball mitt and Williamson being sat on his backside, but the cricket landscape is far from perfect these days. New Zealand Cricket has realised this, admitting it can’t fight the system, and has tried to find the best compromises. They have not, yet, lost players the way West Indies have in Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard, to one extent or another.Of the four to arrive late – a fifth, Corey Anderson, at least had time for a few overs against Worcestershire – McCullum is best placed, partly because he is less of a rhythm batsman than Williamson and does not require miles in the legs, like the bowlers. He has played regularly for CSK and, on the evidence of the last 12 months, his game does not alter vastly between formats.Still, facing the England bowlers, armed with their favourite Dukes ball, in May conditions on what could be overcast days will be a huge test for McCullum. He has previously arrived late for England tours, but in 2008 and 2013 he had at least one match before the first Test. The previous tour two years ago was tough for McCullum in the Tests, with scores 2, 8, 20 and 1 as New Zealand lost 2-0 having competed toe-to-toe for three days at Lord’s.One factor in his favour, however, for the days ahead is a decent record at Lord’s prior to the two failures last time out. On his first appearance in 2004, having been promoted to No. 3 in the second innings in just his fourth Test, he made 96; then in 2008, with New Zealand in trouble at 41 for 3 when he walked in and later 104 for 5, he clubbed a run-a-ball 97, also his highest score against England.That hundred, and a place on the honours board, has proved elusive. At 33, with a dodgy back albeit helped by having shelved the keeping gloves, and with New Zealand not slated for another England tour until beyond 2019, this is likely to be his last chance.”Individual milestones are not a huge thing for me, it’s more about the performance of your team,” he said. “Both times I came close to a hundred we weren’t successful. I’ve said time and again I’d take a duck and a Test win over getting a hundred and the team struggling. It would be nice to make a sizeable contribution, but if not me then one of the other boys and hopefully we can put the pieces together.”Given recent history, it would be no surprise if he filled that spot on his CV this week.