Feature

Brendon braves the bump

Plays of the day from the Group A match between New Zealand and Australia in Auckland

Brendon McCullum looks at his arm after he was hit by a short delivery from Mitchell Johnson  •  Getty Images

Brendon McCullum looks at his arm after he was hit by a short delivery from Mitchell Johnson  •  Getty Images

The heart-in-mouth moments
Off the second ball of the 23rd over of the chase, Kane Williamson took a single. No ordinary single because, with New Zealand needing six runs to win with three wickets in hand, Williamson had given a red-hot Mitchell Starc an opening. Adam Milne was in his sights and two balls later, Starc was on a hat-trick, having bowled Tim Southee too. Williamson gave little indication of the emotion within as he watched from the other end, but its likely that his horror would have given way to relief as Trent Boult survived the last two Starc deliveries. Williamson wasn't thinking about a single next ball, because he hit Pat Cummins over his head for a six to finish the game.
The blow
Brendon McCullum had begun to cut loose during the small chase at Eden Park, but Australia were trying to shake him up. Soon after he carved a six and a four off Mitchell Jonhnson, Michael Clarke sent fine leg back, placed a leg gully, and brought in a man under the helmet at short leg. The plan was obvious. Johnson steamed in and let the short ball rip from over the wicket. McCullum couldn't get out of the way in time and wore it on the arm. There was significant swelling and he was attended to by the physio. Johnson then ran in again, but watched McCullum slash him over slips for four next ball.
The boos
There were plenty of them during Australia's innings but none louder than when David Warner wanted the lbw decision against him to be reviewed. The crowd booed and booed, but once replays of Southee's delivery began to play on the big screen, they waited in anticipation. Pitched in line, hit the pad in line, and the moment the height was deemed to be umpire's call and Warner's fate was sealed, Eden Park exploded into a mix of cheers and more boos. It was sustained until Warner had walked off the field.
The start
McCullum was the leader of the assault on Australia's new-ball bowlers, but the opening salvo had been fired by his partner Martin Guptill, who laid into Johnson's first two deliveries. Guptill glanced Johnson's first ball to the fine-leg boundary, and was given a free-hit next up because of a front-foot no-ball. Guptill then cleared his front leg and smeared a short ball with a flat bat far over the wide long-off boundary. Then it was over to his captain.
The successive wickets
Before Starc bowled Milne and Southee off consecutive deliveries, he had already been on a hat-trick in the New Zealand chase. Ross Taylor's innings was fleeting as he played around an inswinger to be bowled - he now has 29 runs in four innings in the tournament - and the umpires took the players off for the dinner break at the fall of the wicket. When play resumed, Starc caught Grant Elliott leaden-footed first ball with a yorker that swung in to flatten middle stump.

George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo