18th Feb, 2014 it was one of those inspiring moments in the batsman's career that every other batsman wants to have in his cricketing career days. Down the memory lane – it was the day when the destructive wicket-keeper batsman of New Zealand Brendon McCullum smashed the triple century in the final test match of the series after it was all over at once for hosts (New Zealand) against visitors (India).
After losing the first test match by 40-run where captain himself Brendon McCullum has scored 224 runs in the first innings later for which he was awarded with Man of the Match too. In the 2-match test series, Brendon McCullum has scored 535 runs and was the leading run-scorer in the series. The previous best score from New Zealand in test cricket was 299 from Martin Crowe against Sri Lanka in 1991 which was almost a record for two decades.
New Zealand after bowled out at 192 runs in the first innings, the visitors (India) have scored 438 runs in their first innings to get the vital lead of 246 runs. After the crucial lead, New Zealand has to save the test match but the team has crumbled down to 94 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. It seemed all over for New Zealand when they walked in Brendon McCullum who was dropped at the score of 9 runs by Virat Kohli at silly mid-on. There it was the moment which team India had paid the heavy price for not losing the test series but drifted away the chance to level the series.
Brendon McCullum first with BJ Watling added on 352 runs partnership for the sixth wicket to rescue his side from defeat with the highest sixth wicket partnership in test cricket. While after the wicket of BJ Watling, Brendon McCullum have added another century plus partnership of 179 runs with debutant James Neesham (who has scored unbeaten 137 runs which was recorded by No.8 batsman in test cricket) for the seventh wicket. Brendon McCullum completed his triple hundred with boundary over deep square leg and his innings lasted for 775 minutes which is highest by any New Zealand batsman so far.
Talking about this feat of Brendon McCullum the former great of his era Martin Crowe in the interaction with ESPNCricinfo had said, “With Brendon scoring our nation's first ever triple-hundred, I have finally removed the one remaining stone in my shoe. It's pathetic to even have to do so, yet massively necessary. Yes, it has been quite an uplifting few days of personal selfish rehabilitation. Indeed they (McCullum and Ross Taylor) have reinvigorated a cricket nation, and most importantly encouraged many young aspiring athletes to dream big.”
While talking about this special innings Brendon McCullum has described it quite potentially, “My innings was what was required at that stage (94/5). We were obviously scrapping to save the Test and therefore win the series, and we managed to get some partnerships under pressure. And then kept batting and batting and batting. So it was pretty satisfying to get us out of trouble and claim the series win.”
“I wasn’t feeling nervous until I saw the size of the crowd. That’s probably when I understood the magnitude of the task at hand and the immense joy it gives fans of this cricket team to see guys succeed and see records broken,” he said.
“It was a moment, when the 300 came up and the applause was ongoing for quite a while, it is really when it hit home to me that it was quite a significant achievement for a New Zealander and I’ll certainly remember them for the rest of my life,” MucCullum added.
“Without being disrespectful I probably didn’t know the magnitude of it until the last 24 hours. I grew up and watched the New Zealand cricket team for years,” MucCullum said.
“I watched Martin Crowe score his 299 and thought it would have been an amazing feat if he scored 300 but probably didn’t quite understand how much it meant to the whole country who supported this team. I also spoke to Stephen Fleming last night. I feel a little bit embarrassed because I’m nowhere near the calibre of players they were.”
“Thankfully I had partners at the other end who also played brilliant innings. I thought BJ and Neesh, their innings were outstanding. BJ’s in particular because he came in when we were five down for 90-odd and he obviously came off a duck in the first innings as well. To play an innings like that is testament to how strong a character he is,” MucCullum said.
“Then Neesh in his first Test match, with the game still reasonably poised to come out and play his natural game, which is aggressive, takes a lot of courage, so I was pretty lucky to have those guys there. Then I had to fight the emotion when I hit the ball a bit harder than I was trying to hit and make sure of the team goal first and foremost.”
Here is that triple hundred from Brendon MucCullum
