Simon Day and Calum Henderson celebrate some iconic matches from the Black Caps’ back catalogue. The only thing better than watching live cricket is watching classic cricket. It’s a sport that’s built on characters and narratives, and to be honest, four out of five games are just a bit disappointing. But with nostalgic games, you … Read more
Ahead of the Black Caps’ first match in the 2019 World Cup, superfan Simon Day longs for his former leader. Every day I miss Brendon McCullum. Whenever he was on the field as captain I felt an unusual sensation as a longterm Black Caps fan – optimism. No matter what the scoreboard said, I thought “we’re … Read more
With Stephen Fleming and Brendon McCullum among its founders, CricHQ capitalised on global interest in both cricket and cloud-based internet startups. It attracted a star-studded lineup of investors and seemed hugely successful, at one point boasting that it could bring in as much as US $10 billion. Then, in October, it went into receivership. Rebecca … Read more
“Who the hell does Brendon McCullum think he is?” asked our recent mildly inflammatory headline to a review of the former Black Caps captain’s new autobiography. As we enter our first summer of cricket in 14 years without him, Dan Luoni asks: who the hell do we think Brendon McCullum is? That Brendon McCullum has … Read more
Brian Turner wades through the hyperbole in Brendon McCullum’s biography, and recalls the old saying: “Self-praise is no recommendation.” On the front flap of the cover of Declared, the blurbist trumpets Brendon McCullum “could reduce the world’s bowling elite to quivering wrecks”, and “As a captain… his influence has been so profound it will likely change the way … Read more
Alex Chapman took the opportunity to look at the last year of New Zealand cricket, bookended by two brutal defeats. What if we’d bowled first? What if Brendon McCullum hadn’t been bowled early? What if simply being nice and the spirit of the game were enough to carry a team to a world title? What … Read more
Samuel Flynn Scott watches the Black Caps, and his newfound high hopes, implode in a nostalgia-soaked first innings at the Basin Reserve. The lead up to this test series against Australia has been intense. For one thing, it’s Australia. Secondly, we have expectations now. This is new for the Black Caps fan, to go into … Read more
His paper broke the story which led to the Cairns trial, and Jared Savage has covered it brilliantly throughout. Scotty Stevenson spoke with him after the verdict. Jared Savage spent nine weeks in London covering the Chris Cairns perjury trial for the New Zealand Herald. After the verdict was read, I talked to Savage over the phone about … Read more
The first day of cricket’s inaugural day-night test fell on the first anniversary of the death of Phillip Hughes. Reporting from Adelaide, Simon Day found cricket was the best tribute to his memory. New Zealand 202 Australia 54/2 Just after 8pm, the Adelaide evening sky flushed rose and purple to match the pink ball that … Read more