Cricket: Should McCullum be at the Gabba at all?

Brendon McCullum leaves Southwark Crown Court in London after giving evidence at the Chris Cairns trial last month. PHOTO/NZME.

AT THE time, the country was getting swept away in a wave of euphoria because the Black Caps had done remarkably well in their ICC World Cup matches at home to make it to the final against Australia.

Even though New Zealand had succumbed by seven wickets in Melbourne the boorish behaviour of some of the Ockers had somewhat detracted from the Kiwis' performances.

Frankly, that match was about Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum turning the final into a one-man show.

That is McCullum winning the toss, choosing to bat and as opener setting the tone for the inevitable collapse of the innings at the MCG with his three-ball mind snap as Mitchell Starc gleefully took his scalp for an inglorious golden duck.

Consequently it isn't surprising then that someone as adroit as Australian commentator and former test captain Ian Chappell should pick on McCullum's "aggressiveness" in the first test against Australia at the Gabba this week.

Just as they lost the final, the test has an air of inevitability about the result and it's only the third day today.

Chappell noted on Thursday that McCullum was trying to justify his aggressive reputation by throwing his bowlers into the deep end with his fielding choices on day one.

It was bad enough going into a test match thinking someone such as Usman Khawaja, enigmatically overlooked for the past three years after a brief introduction to test cricket, was going to be one of the players they were going to use to expose the perceived soft underbelly of the hosts.

But when the leader of a team starts playing a game of his own and his players become mere pawns on the park then it begs the question of what, exactly, is the role of a captain?

McCullum reached into his bags of crazy antics throughout day one, especially when some of his men failed to take a wicket with the new ball late in the day, and came off terribly flat.

Chappell and fellow commentator and former Aussie skipper Mark Taylor said McCullum over-complicated things for his bowlers by constantly changing the field.

"It looks like he's trying to justify his reputation as being an aggressive captain," Chappell told Channel 9.

"He's gone from an 8-1 field to a 5-4 field and then back again all in the same over. That's only going to disrupt the bowler and his line and length.

"Sometimes you have to sit back and let the line and length do the job. You have to let the bowlers do their job."

Nothing is more dysfunctional in cricket than a batsman given the licence to dictate terms to bowlers on the park.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that bowlers need time to settle into a rhythm and groove.

The bowlers have bent their backs and Tim Southee's injury is a testimony to that.

What bugs me more is whether McCullum should have been considered for the game given that he's just returned from the Chris Ciarns trial in London.

What is the mindset of Macca after he testified and Cairnsy describing him in court as "no shrinking violet" but someone who is "an adept poker player" and who got flutters from betting on racehorses?

I know where my mind would be because this isn't just a cricket match at the Gabba but the game of life unfolding in a courtroom after McCullum's played his innings.