McCullum set to give up gloves in ODIs, T20s to become ‘match winning’ batsman

AUCKLAND - New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum has said that his mind is turning towards concentrating on becoming a specialist batsman to be a consistent match winner for the national side in ODIs and Twenty20s.

McCullum’s comment comes after Gareth Hopkins replaced him as wicketkeeper in the two Twenty20 internationals and three of the four ODIs against Australia.

The 28-year-old does not believe it is feasible to opening the batting and keeping wickets, and performing to his optimum in both roles.

“My motivation is to become a better batsman, to score runs which win us games and I want to churn all my energy into that,” The New Zealand Herald quoted McCullum, as saying.

“I genuinely believe this is my best chance to win games consistently for us and to achieve something special while I’m playing,” he added.

Though McCullum has had injury issues in the past, he refused to accept it as a big factor in his thinking on a change of tack.

“The injury side of things is manageable, but it does diminish the energy I could give to my batting,” McCullum said.

“I’m seeking world-class consistency, and I know if there’s a criticism of my batting it’s that it can be great one day, but can be inconsistent,” he added.

Figures also reveal that McCullum has a better average when he is in the team as a batsman with 613 runs at 43.78 in 16 games, compared to 1456 runs at 31.65 in 51 ODIs as a wicketkeeper-opener.

McCullum will do the glovework in the two tests against Australia, starting next Friday, but would not do the job at the Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean starting on April 30. (ANI)