For Ian Smith, proof of Brendon McCullum’s place in the New Zealand pantheon came on an otherwise normal Tuesday morning in February 2014, as his team prepared for the final day of the second Test against India at Wellington’s Basin Reserve.
The game was heading for a draw, but McCullum was 281 not out overnight, and closing in on his country’s first Test triple-century. A nation tuned in for a moment of history.
‘There was a queue outside the ground of guys in suits from the Central Business District,’ says Smith, once New Zealand’s wicketkeeper, now the country’s foremost cricket broadcaster. ‘They knew full well they might only see half an hour. But they were there early to watch him get his triple. He packed grounds. He was immensely popular.’
Brendon McCullum hit a triple-century against India in 2014 in the longest format of the game
McCullum has now been placed in charge of trying to turn England’s Test fortunes around
McCullum eventually fell for 302, having batted for 12 hours 55 minutes – a weighty counterpoint to the argument that he was always at his best in pursuit of quick runs. Perhaps just as importantly, the innings confirmed New Zealanders’ suspicions that they had another homegrown legend on their hands, a figure to rank with Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe.
Now, McCullum’s first task as England’s new Test coach will be to repel his compatriots, led by Kane Williamson, in a three-match series starting at Lord’s on June 2. Pride back home at his appointment is tinged with uncertainty. How will New Zealanders react?
‘We never saw this coming,’ says Smith. ‘And now his first job is to beat us! We’re not too used to that. We’ve seen it with rugby, because Steve Hansen and Graham Henry have both coached Wales. But we weren’t too bothered about that, because Wales weren’t beating the All Blacks – and neither of them were former players.
‘Brendon McCullum is a brilliantly regarded and well-performed player for New Zealand. That’s how people want him to be remembered. Now he could coach England first up to victory over New Zealand. The TV ratings for this series were already going to be good. Now they’re going to be very good. Fans here are going to be following McCullum in a new way.
Ian Smith has admitted he was surprised to see McCullum get the coaching role with England
England are set to take on Kane Williamson’s New Zealand side next month over three matches
‘The other thing a lot of people will ask is why he’s not coach of New Zealand. But our coach, Gary Stead, has done one hell of a job. I don’t think Brendon’s even contemplated coaching New Zealand.’
Smith, who played the last of his 63 Tests in 1992, knows McCullum well. The two men have done separate three-hour shifts on the radio station SENZ, and Smith was expecting his friend to return to work once Kolkata Knight Riders – the franchise coached by McCullum – were knocked out of the IPL.
For that reason, Smith admits he was ‘quite shocked’ by the news. ‘I had a feeling he might be considered for the shorter forms of the game – that’s the expertise the world knows him for.
‘But when his name came up for the Test job, I had no doubt he’d get it. Once he goes for something, he throws the whole of Brendon McCullum into it. I felt he’d be well prepared to undergo any interview process: he’s so good at portraying who he is.
‘It’s an exciting appointment. It’s probably what English cricket needs. There’s a hint of a risk and a gamble about it, but that’s McCullum – he is a gambler.’ If the immediate task is to end England’s run of one win in 17 Tests and avoid equalling their worst sequence of six series without a victory, then McCullum has also spoken about the broader challenge of ‘reinvigorating’ the oldest format of the game – with England’s success vital to the cause.
Smith thinks Rob Key has taken a calculated risk by appointing McCullum
‘That’s exactly the way I see it,’ says Smith. ‘Test cricket does need a very healthy England. I’m a great fan of the Ashes – it’s one of the greatest things in cricket. It’s no good if that’s going to be one-sided, as it has been. There’s just over a year between now and the next series, and Brendon and Ben Stokes – and don’t forget Rob Key – will want to get England to the point where they can go after Australia at home.
‘That’ll be on the whiteboard, and he’ll go after it step by step. He’ll be thinking about that in the distance as much as anything.’ Much has been made of McCullum’s game-changing three years as New Zealand captain, and his adoption of the All Black’s ‘no di**head’ policy. But Smith says it would be wrong to expect too many dramatic interventions.
‘He’ll decide quickly whether a guy is up to it, but he’ll be proactive rather than ruthless. Put it this way: he won’t recommend persistence when it’s not required.
‘In England, the captain is more powerful as an entity than in New Zealand. He’ll want Ben Stokes to be the man, but he’ll give him everything in terms of attitude and energy. He and Stokes are cut from the same cloth: actions speak louder than words. They’ll be a nice mix together. And it’ll be a clean slate – the only history they’ve got together is as opponents.
Smith expects McCullum to gel well with England’s new Test captain Ben Stokes
‘His thinking is to take the game forward. You saw what he did with the 50-over game. His attitude was, if we’re going to play this format, let’s make every ball count. ODIs were going through a static period between overs 20 to 40, where it was a run a ball and people weren’t too bothered about taking wickets.
‘Brendon is not one to allow a game to drift along. He thought: “That’s not right. Every ball matters to me.” So he’d try to hit every ball to the rope, and in the field he’d want to get wickets. That’s where he’ll help England in terms of their attitude.’
By way of proof, Smith remembers McCullum’s final Test, against Australia at Christchurch in early 2016. ‘He went out in his last innings and got the fastest hundred in the history of Test cricket, almost as if he wanted to say: I’ve gone, but don’t forget me.’
If the chances of that were already slim, they are now non-existent.