After lauding Brendon McCullum's double-century last week, I have to make him centre stage again as the first New Zealander ever to make 300 in a Test innings. For someone once renowned only for his one-day strokeplay, the NZ skipper's work on his long-form batting skills and decision-making have evidently paid off in spades. His ODI scores have suffered but making 224 and 302 in successive matches against the second-ranked nation is no mean feat. The fact that it came in a second innings gives it an extra special lustre; only Hanif Mohammad 56 years ago has hit a triple second time out.
However, it is his eclipsing of such great Black Cap batsmen such as Stephen Fleming, Glenn Turner and Martin Crowe which brought the Wellington crowd and cricket fans worldwide to life. Crowe has said he got too ahead of himself that day 23 years ago in the same city against Sri Lanka but McCullum just about held it together long enough to play the weary Zaheer Khan to the third man boundary and achieve the milestone. Records will always be broken but Brendon will always be the first Black Cap wearer to notch a triple-hundred.
OK, so he rode his luck at times and was dropped by Kohli when on just nine, but credit to McCullum for knuckling down not just to build an innings but also to save a match that was running away from his side. They were 57-3 and still needing about 200 to avoid defeat and win the two-Test series. India had dismissed the home team for a mere 192 on the first day, with Ishant Sharma claiming a personal best 6-51. Four days later, poor Ishant was looking at possibly his worst figures of 0-164, and his colleagues were struggling having bowled the second highest number of overs by India in any Test.
It could so easily have been the match of Ajinkya Rahane, who compiled his maiden Test century, BJ Watling, for an incredibly patient 124 alongside his captain, or particularly Jimmy Neesham, who marked his debut with an unbeaten 137. Some have even castigated McCullum for not declaring until he reached 300. Huh? At 1-0 up, avoiding defeat had to be his prime objective and with India's reputation for fast-scoring - Dhawan, Kohli, Dhoni et al - allowing Neesham to push the target beyond even Indian aspirations was surely the right decision. And I'm sorry, anyone in the world would not have given up with history beckoning. OK, maybe not Mark Taylor - who famously declared when on 334 so as not to overtake the legendary Bradman - but anyone else!
McCullum apart, New Zealand are definitely looking a stronger Test side these days but India's atrocious away record - fourteen matches without a win - is something they need to overcome if they are once again to be considered candidates for the Mace. They did at least make a contest of the First Test and were in the driving seat for the first three days of this one but they ran into McCullum, Watling and Neesham in the form of their lives. While they have a series in England this summer, New Zealand have no Tests scheduled for a while, and McCullum and co have to forget how to compile a long innings and remember how to slog again in the forthcoming T20 competition. They may even win it... but not by scoring 300, that's for sure.
