Brendon McCullum

Brendon Barrie McCullum of New Zealand cricket team is a right handed batsman and wicketkeeper. The other teams he has played for are Otago, Kolkata Knight Riders, Glamorgan and Canterbury. He is a very aggressive batsman who opens the innings for his side in the shorter versions of the game. At present, he has been selected by Kolkata Knight Riders to play for IPL 5 season 2012.

McCullum debuted in One day Internationals on 17th January 2002 at Sydney against Australia. He was the No. 2 batsman and he scored 5 runs in 15 balls. New Zealand won this match by 23 runs. The debut Test match of McCullum was played from 10th to 14th March 2004 at Hamilton against South Africa. In the 1st innings, he took 1 catch and was involved in 1 run out. He scored 57 runs in 86 deliveries while batting at the No. 8 spot. In the 2nd innings, he took 2 catches. He was unbeaten on 19 runs off 48 deliveries. The result of this match was a draw.

ICC selected McCullum in July 2005 for the ICC Super Series. In December 2009 he scored 50 runs in just 19 balls to Bangladesh and eventually got out on 80 runs of 28 balls. on July 2008 he scored his first ODI century against Ireland. Here, he was involved in the highest run partnership of 266 runs with James Marshall for New Zealand. On 16th February 2010, during the Test match against Bangladesh he scored 185 runs which is the highest score for any Wicket-Keeper batsman for New Zealand. On 27th February he scored a century in Twenty20 Cricket and thus becoming the second batsman to do so after Chris Gayle of West Indies.

In IPL 2008 in the inaugural match itself he managed to score 158 not out runs. In 2011, he was picked up from Kolkata Knight Riders to Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

Career Highlights

McCullum has participated in 64 Test matches and in these has scored 3763 runs at a strike rate of 60.83 and batting average of 36.53. His highest score was 225 and he has hit 6 centuries, 22 half centuries, 455 boundaries and 45 sixers. As a wicketkeeper, he has taken 170 catches and completed 11 stumpings.

He has played in 201 One day Internationals and during these time, he has hit 4 centuries and 22 half centuries. His total number of runs are 4511 and 166 is his highest score. His batting average was 30.47 and strike rate was 89.62.