Sunday 8th November 2009
McCullum targets run of big scores
Brendon McCullum is determined to back up his century-making performance when New Zealand take on Pakistan in the series decider.
McCullum's position at the top of the order has been under scrutiny due to a lack of match-winning scores.
But the wicketkeeper put his critics on notice with an impressive 129-ball 131 in New Zealand's 64-run win on Friday and is hoping he can add to his second one-day century in the final game of the three-match series in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
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"It's pretty satisfying to be able to play an influential role in a performance where we came away with a win. It's nice to have made a contribution," McCullum told Radio Sport.
"Personally it's been a reasonably lean sort of run of late in terms of big scores so it was nice to be able to get one in this series and hopefully build on that from here.
"You take away all the discussion if you get the job done. One performance certainly doesn't change all of that but it does give me the confidence to be able to consolidate my position at the top and try to win games for New Zealand at the start.
"I always want to bat at the top of the order as I see it as the greatest opportunity to be able to play influential roles. This was a step in the right direction for that."
McCullum's second-wicket stand of 126 with Martin Guptill (62) was the driving force in getting New Zealand to 303 for eight.
But it was some impressive bowling by Scott Styris (three for 23 in four overs) and captain Daniel Vettori (two for 37 from 10) plus two superb catches from Ross Taylor and Guptill's run out of Salman Butt that kept Pakistan at bay.
With the series on the line, McCullum expects to face a fired-up Pakistan side at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
"Hopefully if we play as well as we did on Friday then we will get the result we want. There are still areas we think we can improve on," he said.
"We know that Pakistan will bounce back and they will come out firing. We have to make sure we are at the top of our game to get the result that we want.
"If we can continue the intent we batted with on Friday, particularly at the top of the order, and put them under some pressure and make sure their spinners are bowling at top-order players that certainly helps to negate their strengths."
Following the one-day series the two teams move to Dubai for two Twenty20 internationals before heading to New Zealand for a three-Test series.
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