Does Brendon McCullum deserve to be called a 'legend'?
A couple of days ago, arguably New Zealand’s shrewdest captain after Martin Crowe called time, rather prematurely, on what could be termed as a rainbow-like cricketing career.
B Mac will hang up his boots after the second Test Match versus the Australians at home in February next year.
Stating the obvious, only a fool or an oblivious fan would have disliked the brand of cricket the Kiwi’s played under his leadership. Hard, attacking cricket coupled with the tag of the ‘nicest’ team around is a combination few sides over the decades have mastered.
There was more to McCullum the batsman, it was McCullum the leader. Instilling belief of belonging on the biggest stage, McCullum inspired his side with his heroics with the bat as well as some astute captaincy as he went one up on his predecessor Martin Crowe, leading the Kiwis’ to their first ever World Cup final appearance.
And then his stroke play was an oasis in the desert storm, a sight for the sore eyes to breathe in. However, much like an oasis in the hottest of deserts, his serenity was perhaps too infrequent, far too in-between than where it should have ideally been.
There are certain qualms whilst using the term ‘Legend’. There are well defined terms like ‘basher’, ‘match-winner’, ‘grafter’, ‘innovative’, et al, but the term ‘legend’ lacks definition.
And since we are discussing a rather subjective term, it is a wee-bit difficult to lay a substantial claim on the issue.
Whilst we leave you to judge if someone with the achievements of McCullum can be termed as a Legend of the game, it will be interesting to analyse his career statistically as well as analytically to help accomplish the purpose.
McCullum Career Averages
| Matches | Runs | HS | Average | Strike Rate | 100’s | 50’s | |
| Tests | 99 | 6273 | 302 | 38.48 | 63.71 | 11 | 31 |
| ODI’s | 254 | 5909 | 166 | 30.30 | 95.03 | 5 | 31 |
| T-20’s | 71 | 2140 | 123 | 35.66 | 136.21 | 2 | 13 |
For players who have played over 20 games, there are 199 batsmen who average over McCullum in the longest format of the game.
Speaking of the 50 over game, for players who have played over 50 ODI’s, 171 batsmen ended up having a better batting average.
Indeed, for a pure batsman that McCullum was in Tests, his batting average was mediocre at best. In the shorter format, his 30.30 does not invoke much confidence either.
The shortest format was probably where his forte always seemed to lie. His numbers at a staggering strike rate make for really pleasant viewing. However, 71 games in a format that is still finding its feet in the cricketing world is probably not as good a mark of greatness as one needs to be earmarked as a legend of the game.
McCullum the match winner
McCullum Career Averages in a winning cause
| Matches | Runs | HS | Average | Strike Rate | 100’s | 50’s | |
| Tests | 30 | 2017 | 224 | 48.02 | 72.24 | 6 | 6 |
| ODI’s | 131 | 3403 | 166 | 38.67 | 108.51 | 4 | 17 |
| T-20’s | 32 | 1279 | 123 | 55.60 | 147.35 | 1 | 11 |
McCullum won only 30 Test matches out of almost 100 he played in his career. Out of the 46 times he strode out to bat in those games, he scored over 50 runs only on 12 occasions, reaching a score over 100 in half of those.
This means that he’s scored over 50 only 26% of the times his side won the game. For someone who is labelled as a match winner? Is it good enough?
In ODI’s he does have a much better record, striking it exorbitantly and having 21 scores of over 50 runs.
However, merely 4 centuries for someone who has often opened the innings in the shorter format does his reputation as a match winner some harm.
In T20’s however, he was certainly the biggest match winner of all time. Only 3 times has Baz scored over 50 runs and his team still went on to lose the game.
To put things into perspective, one can compare him to Virender Sehwag, unarguably one of the greatest match winners of his generation.
In Tests, Sehwag averages 54.65 in 42 Tests for a winning cause, scoring over 50 runs in 35% of those games.
In ODI’s Sehwag was even more lethal, averaging close to 46. But what was staggering was the fact that India lost only one game when Sehwag has scored over a 100 runs, speaking volumes of the impact he had on the cricketing field.
McCullum, on the other hand, lost 7 times out of the 11 occasions he managed to get a ton on the board.
Do his numbers speak of himself as one of the greatest match winners of all time?
Man of the Match Awards
Another metric to judge a match winner is the Man of the Match Award. Here is how McCullum fared in that regard.
| Format | Matches | Man of the Match | Man of the Series |
| Test Matches | 99 | 5 | 0 |
| ODI | 254 | 5 | 1 |
| T20 | 71 | 7 | 1 |
For someone who is labelled as a tremendous match winner, his showing of 5 MOM’s in 99 Tests and 254 ODI’s certainly does his reputation some harm. Coupled with a solitary Man of the Series award to his name in Tests and ODI’s combined, it certainly evokes second thought.
Indeed, McCullum was a good player, perhaps one of the finest wicket keeping batsman the Kiwis have produced? But was he a legend of the game? What is the criteria of being called as a ‘legend’?
Sir Donald Bradman can safely be termed as a legend. So can Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne or Herbert Sutcliffe. But can McCullum ever be drawn in the same breath as Adam Gilchrist or Jeff Dujon?
We leave that open to perception as Baz decides to fade into oblivion.