The McCullum Issue

Mark Geenty sums up the mess NZ have got themselves into over the batting position of Brendon McCullum. He's had enough of inadequate starts at the top of the order and wants Baz back opening.

I can see the logic behind the selectors wanting McCullum to bat lower down. He simply hasn't won us enough games as an opener (just two centuries in 180 ODIs, although to be fair he's played more than half those games in the lower order), and it is thought that he could be devastating against tiring bowlers in the powerplay, at no.6 or no.7. The fact that Ryder, Guptill, How and the rest have continued to find daft ways of getting themselves out has jeopardised that plan, no doubt. But during the chase at Hamilton, with a platform finally set, Baz was inexplicably sent in ahead of nudger Styris in the 24th over; he couldn't work the ball around and fell to a crazy shot. After all that talk of saving him for the powerplay, it was hard to understand the rationale behind putting him in an unfamiliar position.

The argument for returning him to the opening position is that the current top 3 have made a hash of things, and neither Jamie How nor Kane Williamson look like constructing a good one-day innings from the #3 spot at the moment (you can add Ross Taylor to the list, he refuses to be shifted from the #4 slot). It's an equally valid point, but it also shows how laughable the situation has become; confused teams inevitably end up making the wrong decisions.

The think tank needs to either stick to the plan, or go back to the successful McCullum-Ryder opening combination and hope that Guptill and Taylor raise their game from where it is right now. Let's end the confusion already.