Brendon McCullum Named New Zealand Cricketer of the Year

Brendon McCullum won the top prize at the New Zealand Cricket Awards last night. The New Zealand captain beat out a long list of contenders to win the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for New Zealand Cricketer of the Year after another outstanding summer both with the bat and in the field.

Having recently capped off one of their most successful seasons ever, there were predictably a number of players putting their hands up for the top award.

Perhaps most unlucky was No. 3 batsman Kane Williamson, who won Test, One-day and Twenty20  Cricketer of the Year. A below-average showing at the World Cup no doubt hindered his case. Alongside Williamson, Trent Boult has put on a bowling master class of swing bowling in all forms of the game and it would not have been a surprise to see him win the top award too.

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But it is hard to complain with the decision. McCullum's impact went far beyond his explosive batting in limited overs cricket, or his run-making in the longer forms of the game. 

No, it was his aggressive captaincy, effort in the field and overall classy manner that has made him so influential for New Zealand cricket over the past 12 months.

At the World Cup he was somewhat revolutionary in his tactics, prepared to set attacking fields to give his bowlers the chance to take wickets. His risks were always calculated, and the way his plans fell into place were huge in New Zealand's run to the final.

His effort in the field exemplified his team's attitude. Fielding at mid-off, mid-on or in the covers, he would chase down every ball with intensity and hurled himself at the ground to save boundaries.

Nowhere was this more evident than in the World Cup final, where with the odds stacked against his team, McCullum continued to attack, recognizing the only way to win was to take wickets. Likewise with the opposition requiring fewer than 10 runs to win, McCullum was still chasing the balls as hard as he could to the boundary, throwing himself at the ball to limit the runs.

It was intensity that the rest of the team picked up on and became the defining characteristic of this New Zealand team.

Despite it all, McCullum never let his aggression extend beyond the boundaries of the game. He never lowered himself to the type of sledging behaviour that his countrymen despise. There were never any complaints, or send-offs, or dare we say it, threats. Somehow it just would not have counted or meant anything had they won the World Cup, but done so in classless way. 

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That, as much as anything, is why he deserved to win the award, because it is all of those things New Zealanders like to see and value in their heroes. Someone who will succeed, but do so in a classy way. Regardless of whether sledging, or hostility toward opponents is wrong or right, it is the New Zealand perspective that is important here, as this was of course, the New Zealand cricket awards.

Others to win awards were Kane Williamson (Test, One-Day, Twenty20 and Batsman of the Year), Trent Boult (Bowler of the Year), Suzie Bates (Women's Player of the Year), Andrew Ellis (Men's Domestic Cricketer of the Year), Amy Satterthwaite (Women's Domestic Cricketer of the Year) and Ross Dykes (Bert Sutcliffe Medal).