McCullum in T20 thriller
A Brendon McCullum and Darren Bravo batting blitz has powered the Trinbago Knight Riders to a remarkable fivewicket win in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
The pair walloped 16 of the world record equalling 32 sixes in the Twenty20 match between them, smashing 137 runs from 52 balls for the fourth wicket against the St Lucia Stars in Gros Islet yesterday.
Bravo (94 from 36) was still in the middle when his side surpassed St Lucia’s 212-2 with a ball remaining, an over after McCullum’s whirlwind innings of 68 from 42 balls ended.
With the Knight Riders still requiring 85 runs from the last five overs, St Lucia were well on track to ending a 14-match losing streak.
However, Bravo promptly swung the match the other way, tonking fellow West Indian Kieron Pollard for four consecutive sixes, and five in the over.
Pakistani Shahid Afridi is the only other player to have hit four sixes in as many balls in a CPL match.
Former Black Caps captain McCullum, who a few overs earlier smashed former New Zealand team-mate Mitchell McClenaghan over mid-wicket and out of the ground, then got in on the action, taking 21 runs off Obed McCoy’s over.
After Bravo plundered four more sixes the following over, the pair had thumped 80 runs from three overs.
McClenaghan picked up a couple of wickets, including McCullum’s scalp, in the penultimate over to threaten another twist in the tale, before Danesh Ramdin finished the Stars off by hoisting McCoy over long-off.
The Knight Riders appeared dead and buried at 20-2 in the fourth over, before McCullum joined Black Caps T20 specialist Colin Munro in the middle.
They put on 51 for the third wicket, before Munro (25 from 21) smoked Pollard down Chandrapaul Hemraj’s throat at deep square leg.
Pollard, having earlier struck seven sixes on his way to 65 from 23, was all smiles at the time, as was Australian David Warner, who top-scored for the Stars with 72 from 55.
But Bravo and McCullum’s brutal assault quickly wiped any joy from their mugs.