Brendon McCullum, who led New Zealand through an exhilarating two years of success, will retire from international cricket in February after the two-test series against Australia, the 34-year-old batsman said on Tuesday.McCullum told a news conference in Christchurch that the second test against Australia, which starts at Hagley Oval on Feb. 20, would be his 101st and last.
Brendon McCullum | Source: Reuters
He skipped tours of South Africa and Zimbabwe in August but had been expected to continue through the World Twenty20 in India next March and April.New Zealand’s top batsman, 25-year-old Kane Williamson, will now lead the Black Caps at the tournament and is likely to take over as captain in all formats.”Ideally, I would have preferred to wait until after the test in Christchurch to make this news public,” McCullum added.”However, the schedule for naming the World Twenty20 squads means I couldn’t have managed this without causing a lot of confusion and speculation – something I was keen to avoid.”In spite of his back injury, McCullum will play his 100th consecutive test match in the series opener against Australia in Wellington in early February.His inspirational leadership was widely credited with the team’s successful World Cup campaign, where New Zealand stormed to the final on the back of an attacking brand of cricket that won them fans around the world.It reflected McCullum’s own aggressive approach at the crease, which earned him five ODI and 11 test centuries, including the only triple century by a New Zealand batsman.He also claimed the second-highest score in Twenty20 cricket, an unbeaten 158 in the IPL.
