Reports: Brendon McCullum considers ODI retirement
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum admitted on the sidelines of the series defeat to England that he could retire from the shorter format, and that he is yet to take a call on it. The 33-year-old has had trouble with a fragile back in the second half of his career, which consists of 254 ODIs and 94 Tests.
"I don't know. We'll wait and see. We'll let the dust settle on this. It's been a great year, an incredible summer for us”, he said.
"We've scaled some heights that hadn't been done before by our country and we're starting to build a soul to how we play. I'm lucky enough to be in a position of leadership to give guys the freedom to play that brand. I've enjoyed the last two years. The body's a bit sore but we'll see what happens."
McCullum has been part of the Kiwi side who have played a continuous period of cricket since October. It is thought that McCullum could miss the limited overs-only tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa in August – to give him sufficient rest to recover in time for the three Tests against Australia and two Tests against Sri Lanka, and to give time to heir-apparent Kane Williamson to fit into the ODI captain’s role.
In what would be a special personal milestone, the opening home Test of the series against Australia would be his 100th in succession since his March 2004 debut against South Africa. If McCullum retires from ODIs he will bow out as one of New Zealand's most inspirational and tactically astute captains – having led the nation to a first World Cup final.