Brendon McCullum has sparked a debate on social media with his comments after the Lord’s Test match of the ongoing Ashes series. The England Test coach has opined that England would have taken a different decision had they been in a similar position as Australia on Day 5 of a Test match, when Alex Carey stumped out Jonny Bairstow in a controversial manner.
McCullum even said that it would be hard for the England team to have some beers with the Aussies after the series because Pat Cummins and co. went against the Spirit of Cricket. However, in this listicle now, we will look at three such instances when McCullum himself went against the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ as a wicketkeeper of New Zealand.
1. Brendon McCullum executes a controversial run-out against Zimbabwe, 2005
During New Zealand’s away Test series against Zimbabwe in 2005, Chris Mpofu left the crease to congratulate his partner Blessing Mahwire after he completed a half-century. McCullum did not show any Spirit of Cricket and decided to run out Mpofu because the Zimbabwean tailender was outside of his crease. You can watch the video here:
[THREAD: Brendon McCullum & 3 Controversial(?) Run Outs]
— Mainak Sinha🏏📽️ (@cric_archivist) July 4, 2023
Bulawayo 2005: Chris Mpofu got run out while celebrating his partner's 50. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/3KXXx16OAI
2. Brendon McCullum dismisses Muttiah Muralitharan in a controversial manner
During New Zealand’s home series against the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2006-07, Kumar Sangakkara played a fantastic knock in the second innings of the match at the AMI Stadium. Sangakkara completed his hundred, and to congratulate him on his milestone, his batting partner Muttiah Muralitharan left the crease.
In that period, McCullum took the bails off the stumps and dismissed Muralitharan with a controversial run-out. Here is the video of that incident:
Christchurch 2006
— Mainak Sinha🏏📽️ (@cric_archivist) July 4, 2023
This one is more famous and you may have seen this but this is an extended version. Murali gets run out while celebrating Sangakkara's 100.
Tagging @gulu1959 on request. pic.twitter.com/Hlcr3kTWFf
3. Daniel Vettori overturns McCullum’s attempt to dismiss Paul Collingwood
During the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy match between England and New Zealand, McCullum collected the ball from Kyle Mills and took the bails off the stumps when Paul Collingwood left his crease.
Daniel Vettori, who was the captain of the Blackcaps in that match, decided to withdraw the appeal because it went against the Spirit of Cricket. This incident was the same as Alex Carey vs Jonny Bairstow from the Ashes Lord’s Test. Here is the video of the same:
Jo'burg 2009
— Mainak Sinha🏏📽️ (@cric_archivist) July 4, 2023
A super controversial run out which was given by the 3rd umpire but eventually NZ team decided not to proceed with the appeal. See the next video for the final part of this incident. pic.twitter.com/Py43dlds0S
