McCullum to play for Middlesex next season
New Zealand skipper, Brendon McCullum will ply his trade in England's domestic tournaments for the Middlesex outfit. McCullum will be featuring in the Royal London One-Day Cup and the Natwest T20 Blast. The Royal London One-Day Cup starts on June 5, 2016, while the Natwest T20 Blast commences on June 8, 2016.
McCullum is available to play from the end of the Indian Premier League (IPL) until June 25, 2016. In this duration, Middlesex will play four Royal London One-Day Cup and seven Natwest T20 Blast matches.
Last season, McCullum had played for Warwickshire in the T20 Blast. He had scored a brilliant 158 off 64 balls against Derbyshire in the T20 tournament.
After announcing his retirement on Tuesday, there have been many in the cricket fraternity who feel McCullum might have retired a bit early since it could be argued that he still had it in him to go for a few more years. However, it came as good news to Middlesex, who have been able to acquire the attacking batsman's services.
Former England bowler, Angus Fraser who is the managing director of cricket for Middlesex was delighted with the signing of McCullum.
“Signing a player of Brendon's undoubted quality is a huge coup for the club. He is one of the most respected, capable and dangerous cricketers in world cricket and will create a great deal of excitement around the club. When he walks out to bat everybody stops what they are doing to watch,” Fraser said.
McCullum's new home ground will be the iconic Lord's, which is where Middlesex plays most of their home games. One thing that is certain is that the crowd at Lord's for Middlesex games will no doubt be entertained by the 34-year-old Kiwi batsman.
“Brendon's involvement highlights Middlesex's commitment to white ball cricket and we are all looking forward to working with him both on and off the field. His presence will ensure that Thursday evenings at Lord's will be 'must see' events,” Fraser said.
Middlesex will be hoping that with McCullum's influence they can finally make it to the knockout stages after having failed to do it on the two previous editions of the Natwest T20 Blast. England's ODI captain, Eoin Morgan is the captain of the Middlesex squad.
McCullum's T20 record speaks volumes about the impact he can have in the shortest format of the game. In 219 matches, he has scored 6311 runs at an average of 32.53, which is excellent in the T20 format. His highest score is 158*, which he scored twice in his T20 career, the first being for Kolkata Knight Riders in the first edition of the IPL.
Well blimey. Brendon McCullum has Signed for Middlesex. What a signing. Hats off to Gus and Richard.
— Elizabeth Ammon (@legsidelizzy) December 23, 2015