LONDON: Brendon McCullum, a former captain of New Zealand and the current head coach of the England Test team, has said that the Black Caps' resilience under duress makes them a dangerous team going into the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.
In a rematch of 2017 final in the UAE, New Zealand, the runners-up in the 2021 T20 World Cup, will open their campaign in this year's international competition on October 22 against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The former New Zealand opener thinks the Kiwis can compete on cricket's grandest platform, despite their shaky form heading into the 2022 T20 World Cup.
When it comes to World Cups, you "can never write the New Zealand squad off," McCullum said on SENZ Breakfast. They simply possess a remarkable capacity for remaining cool under pressure and being extremely disciplined. McCullum said, "under whose leadership England has won six of the seven Test matches this summer, I expect them to be there or thereabouts again."
While McCullum acknowledged that New Zealand's previous Tri-Series matches in Christchurch against Bangladesh and Pakistan may have yielded some benefits, he asserted that they have not been at their best recently.
It's obvious that recent months haven't been as fruitful as they have been in recent years, McCullum continued. The performance levels that they were able to accomplish and the criteria that they set for themselves were "very extraordinary." The amount of consistency they were able to achieve in a game that was quite erratic was a genuine testament to the team's leadership and some once-in-a-generation talents. They have been led exceptionally effectively by Kane Williamson and a few of the more experienced players.
It hasn't been as successful or prolific recently, but if you consider some of the margins, many of the games they lost were decided by very little margins, McCullum said.
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