Goodbye, Macca

The last couple of years have seen a fair number of high profile retirements in the kiwi ranks. There was Mark Richardson, after the disastrous test series in Australia in 2004, Chris Cairns in January 2006, Nathan Astle before the world cup this year, and of late Stephen Fleming's termination of his one day career. Like most of them, Craig McMillan's retirement came like a bolt from the blue; completely unexpected, for he is only 31 and had enjoyed a successful comeback to the one day side earlier this year. Not to forget his contribution to the 20-20 campaign.

The key here is that we have been surprised by his decision, in the expectation that an international cricketer should go on playing till he is 35 years old. It belies an unfortunate truth; while celebrating Macca's comeback to the side and his typically maverick presence thereafter, we forgot all along that he is a diabetic and the years of cricket must have been taking its toll. The calendar only gets more hectic each year. I would say he chose the right time to go; a decent World Cup with a good all round performance in the South Africa game, and an imposing 20-20 campaign cluttered with sixes from his blade. The selectors seemed to have made up their minds about his test prospects quite a while back, so the chances of his return to that arena were not great; but I did think to myself, if he could grab back his one day spot the way he did, who knows?

McMillan's decade-long career is perceived to be one of frustrating inconsistency. He lasted a decade in the side, from the time when Stephen Fleming had just taken over the captaincy. For me personally, there are just too many memories and nuggets to jot down here so I can only reflect on what he brought to the side. Like Dion Nash, who retired five years ago, Macca was a fighter, always ready to assert his rights in the middle, whether verbally or with bat or ball in hand. At the turn of the century when the kiwis were seen as a charisma-free team who were all too laid back in their approach, his kind of attitude reminded us that we were always in the game. Little wonder the Aussies always rated him highly; at Wellington in February 2000, a strategy sheet with comments about the opposition players had been left behind in an Aussie hotel room, in which he was listed as a 'dangerman'. Craig was always capable of doing something exciting, from breaking a threatening partnership with his exaggerated medium pacers, or hitting that much-needed sixer to wrest back the psychological initiative. He could occasionally be suicidal in his methods, too - I've seen him getting out to ugly reverse sweeps quite often. But he was rarely boring to watch.

If I had to name my favourite McMillan innings, it would have to be his first one day century against the Pakistanis in Christchurch back in '01. We were on a big losing streak at the time and Macca transformed the series, taking on Wasim, Waqar and co in a display of controlled and clinical aggression to reach his century in just 70 odd balls if I remember right. That set the tone for the test series wehere we came back from behind to draw level, and Macca famously took 27 of an over from Younis Khan in that amazing Hamilton test. I thought the time had finally arrived where McMillan finally moved up from the second tier and became one of the world's leading batsmen, but his career never really enjoyed similar highs after that. If the previous paragraph is any indication, his value to the side and the memories he's left behind have more to do with the kind of player he was.

Now that I think about it, the one thing Macca should be remembered for is his courage. For dealing with diabetes on the side, for being a good humoured competitor on the field, for daring to charge Shane Warne and hit him out of the park on debut, for hanging in there and not becoming a salesman, and for the ability to bounce back(he made an equally compelling comeback in 2003 having been dumped after the world cup). And of course, the courage to call it quits when he felt like it, with no fuss whatsoever. What remains is a spirit which the current set of Black caps would do well to emulate.