David Leggat: McCullum should clear the air

It was a tough day for Brendon McCullum yesterday. One consolation: as he's in St Lucia, en route to Miami to soak up some sun with his New Zealand T20 teammates ahead of their three-games against Sri Lanka next week, it may have passed him by.

Coach Mark Greatbatch's reconfirmation that McCullum is permanently packing away his T20 wicketkeeping gloves drew a mountain of radio talkback ire.

The add-on that, even if only for public consumption, he is still deciding whether to follow suit in the ODI and test games piled the flak just that bit higher.

McCullum's problem is partly in the perception. There is a feeling that he's calling the shots with his own, rather than his team's, best interests in mind.

If correct, he certainly doesn't have that on his own.

Let's be clear: McCullum is the country's best wicketkeeper. He has concerns over his keeping longevity so wants to trim his wicketkeeping commitments and there are hints he's losing some of his desire to keep.

If he doesn't want to keep that's his choice. To those suspecting a financial motivation, consider that removing a string from his bow won't help that cause.

In time - and sooner rather than later - he wants to concentrate on being a specialist batsman. It may be a regrettable shift for New Zealand in the broad scheme of things, but for that reason alone, he should not be vilified as if he'd done something unmentionable at the dinner table.

In the past year, New Zealand used Reece Young, Peter McGlashan and Gareth Hopkins to keep in different parts of the world.

McCullum adds plenty in the field with his athleticism, but that's a sidelight to this particular point.

In international T20 he is the highest scorer, with 1081 runs. Next best: England's Kevin Pietersen on 822. McCullum's average is 34.87.

Only seven players in the top 20 runmakers have better strike rates than McCullum's 129.15.

He will miss the ODI tri-series in Sri Lanka in July, due to the anticipated arrival of a second child. In that form, he averages 29.01 from 171 games.

As for tests, he's going at a healthy 34.9, with five centuries.

So a key point: is he good enough to justify selection solely as a batsman? If he puts the gloves away for good he must be able to bat in the top six.

Solely on numbers, of the three, his ODI place would be most vulnerable.

Captain Dan Vettori, with Greatbatch one of three national selectors, has hinted strongly that he would rather McCullum kept wicket across the board.

McCullum has dug his toes in.

If injury is his paramount concern, it doesn't explain why he would choose the shortest form in which to draw the line, rather than the more draining versions. Maybe he just doesn't fancy it any more. Perhaps he sees his career re-energised with a change of focus.

Where McCullum is at fault is in not speaking out to clear the air. In this regard he has been badly advised. He is a forthright personality. Silence, like stodginess at the crease, is not his natural game.

Greatbatch was vague, perhaps deliberately so, on whether McCullum will carry on keeping in ODI and tests.

The sooner this is cleared up, one way or the other, the better.