The first ball Brendon McCullum faced in this World Cup, in the opening game, he bludgeoned to the extra cover boundary. That was off Nuwan Kulasekera. The next ball he faced, from Lasith Malinga, he sliced squarer for another boundary.
Both were typical McCullum shots, identifiable not only by the technique but by the gusto with which he approached them. He left nothing short, neither power nor conviction, in either.
He has maintained the approach through the tournament no matter the opposition, venue, or circumstance of the match.
Nowhere did it provide a more memorable spectacle than in him charging down the pitch to Mitchell Johnson, the world’s meanest fast bowler. And yet McCullum jumped at him as if he, not Johnson, was the fast bowler.
This tournament, as this entire last year, has seen an extreme McCullum, which is a little like saying Base jumping has developed an extreme version of itself – perhaps without parachutes.
Maybe even more illustrative of this McCullum than any innings or shot was that reckless and astonishing dive at the extra cover boundary against Bangladesh.
That kind of commitment to daredevilry meant something far greater than what would have been the actual achievement – a fairly mundane one, in the prevention of a boundary.
In many ways, that abandon, that spirit has taken hold of the side he is leading, even the country he is representing. New Zealand is famously a rugby country, yet in this tournament they have given themselves to cricket like rarely before.
Certainly games in New Zealand this tournament – especially involving them – have looked and sounded somehow more alive than many in Australia.
So though it is easy to look at their previous semi-final record of six played and six lost and conclude that New Zealand are just a semi-finals kind of team, this time they are not. This time, they are, potentially, the best ODI side in the world at this moment.
Just as the only other time New Zealand looked so good at a World Cup – back in 1992 – this time, too, the team has increasingly begun to feel simply an extension of its leader.
Most vividly, they have been so with the ball and in the field, where McCullum has unleashed his bowlers as he has unleashed himself. Trent Boult and Tim Southee have bowled purely to take wickets and, with 34 between them, the policy has not failed.
The most striking aspect of the attack, though, has been how thin it is. So many sides have struggled with fifth and sixth bowling options and suffered for it.
New Zealand have options, but McCullum has relied essentially on Boult, Southee, Adam Milne and Daniel Vettori.
He has made sure his main bowlers have every opportunity to pick up as many wickets as they can and let a fifth option take care of itself, which it has. Corey Anderson has bowled, on average, just over four overs a match and picked up 11 wickets.
It has been a captaincy on a tightrope, at full speed, and it has been exactly as thrilling to watch.
If there is concern anywhere, it is in the batting. Kane Williamson has had a quiet World Cup and Ross Taylor is just now scrapping his way into some form.
In fact, for all the bluster, the one thing missing from the tournament is a real big, standout McCullum innings. Thrice he has crossed fifty in seven games, but not once has he gone over 77.
His 269 runs are ample – especially if you consider his strike rate – but that is only 32 more runs than Martin Guptill managed in the quarter-final. And for a shot in the semi-final, for a shot at history, never has one been more necessary.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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