Brendon McCullum rolled into the captain’s pre-match press conference seemingly at ease with the world. It’s been a long build up for him and his side, and they way they’ve played has set up some serious expectation. But that’s OK.
“We’re comfortable with the team we’ve decided on, I think all round our team we tick most boxes, and the style of play we’ve crunched down over time is something that we’re comfortable with. We’ve had different personnel come in and out over the last little while, but the game plan is always the same. It’s a good sign for a team that they’re able to replicate the same game plan even with different people.
“Overall we’ve got a nice mix of youth and experience, and sometimes the youth bring the experience on a little bit, and the experienced guys can paint the way forward for some of the younger guys, so it’s a nice mix amongst the group and one I’m really comfortable taking into a World Cup. We’ve given ourselves a good chance,” said McCullum.
A lot of hard work has gone in to developing depth in the squad and this much-talked about youth / experience mix. Just remember the debate around the final 15-man World Cup squad. That work has paid dividends, and there’s more to come.
“My focus was on how the team performed and I think we saw the emergence of some young guys on the international scene, and there were many people standing up through the calendar year, and made some contributions along the way, and the development of our team over that period of time can be attributed to a number of things. We’re feeling confident within the group, our attitude and our culture, I think we’ve got that right, and that gives us our greatest chance of success when all the seats on the bus are headed in the right direction.
"There’s many other factors, players are maturing as well, with guys becoming world class players and putting out world class performances. There are nice combinations among the group as well, you throw all that in the mix and guys are going to benefit statistically. I guess I was one of those guys who was lucky enough to be able to cash in on the back of the hard work of some other people as well, said McCullum.
Playing this World Cup at home, on the back of the recent form has seen the BLACKCAPS graduate from dark horses to those fancied to take the trophy. The skipper isn’t getting carried away however.
"We believe we are a good cricket team, and we believe we have a chance in this World Cup. But geez, there’s some good teams around as well, and we know that, and we’re going to need things to fall in our favour at times, we’re going to go through some key moments as well. I think the structure of the tournament and the way you play quarter, semi and final, there’s lots of pressurised moments during those few games, and there can only be one winner.
“We’re realistic with that, it sits comfortably with me that if we play our best game, and we perform to the level that we know how, if we get beat we get beat, but if we do that, we walk away pretty satisfied with our performance,” said McCullum.
