New Zealand’s captain and T20 superstar Brendon McCullum is set to play his first game for the Birmingham Bears versus Lancashire Lightning in the Natwest T20 Blast on Friday (26 June), and Head of Sport Matt Bullin and sports commentator Matthew Riley were at Edgbaston to speak to him beforehand…
Following a tour of England as captain of New Zealand, Brendon McCullum is set to represent the Birmingham Bears in seven Natwest T20 Blast matches. In an interview with Burn FM he sounded excited to be playing for the Bears at Edgbaston, entertaining the famous Brummie crowd, in addition to linking up with fellow kiwi Jeetan Patel:
“Every International cricketer has a nice affiliation with Edgbaston, and I’m pretty excited to be back- the wicket was flat last time I was here so hopefully it’ll be a good batting track. And I’m looking forward to entertaining the famous Edgbaston home crowd.”
He also spoke briefly about New Zealand’s tour of England, in a largely positive manner for the brand of cricket both England and New Zealand managed to play, though he was obviously disappointed at the overall results of the tour (after they drew 1-1 in the two-match test series, England beat his side 3-2 in the five match ODI series and hammered them by 56 runs in the iT20), he also gave credit to Eoin Morgan for captaining England in a positive and attacking way. When asked about playing longer test series’ in the future, he answered diplomatically, claiming:
“We’ve (New Zealand) have got to earn the right to play more tests, our performance levels haven’t been at the right level in the past but I believe we’re on the right track now”
When asked about the effect of the IPL on T20 cricket and his own game, he spoke glowingly about the IPL- stressing the importance of meeting different players by playing for different teams, and continuing to grow and develop his game. As well as becoming more experienced in dealing with a diverse range of pitch conditions and learning how deal with crowds you are not used to.
Brendon McCullum will be playing his first match at Edgbaston for the Bears against Derbyshire Falcons on July 3rd, join us then for live coverage on Burn FM.
Listen below for the full interview with Brendon McCullum from Matt Bullin and Matthew Riley, as well as a host of other journalists.
