Australia vs New Zealand 2019-20: Brendon McCullum feels Kane Williamson has been a reluctant captain at times

What's the story?

Former New Zealand skipper, Brendon McCullum had called out Kane Williamson for his defensive captaincy in the Boxing Day Test match against Australia. McCullum himself went to counsel Williamson ahead of the third day's commencement. The retired veteran pointed out that the current Kiwi captain has been reluctant at times and he is not enjoying his current role in the team.

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The background

After the home team dominated New Zealand in the first phase of the Test match, McCullum felt that the defensive tactics of the team captain had led to the team's downfall. During his appearance on SEN Radio, McCullum described New Zealand's style of playing as follows:

"I think it's been a pretty poor session. I don't understand some of the tactics to be honest. It's just staggering. By all means, have a blast, but the game was still in the balance"

He was not impressed with Williamson's ideology of giving the ball to a part-time off-spinner Tom Blundell when the game was equally balanced. Hence, he decided to have a one-on-one session with the captain on Saturday morning.

The heart of the matter

Brendon McCullum

As reported by ESPNCricinfo, Brendon McCullum felt bad for the Kiwi fans who travelled to Australia to watch their team. He later gave his opinions on Channel Seven and said:

"If we look back to the first session of the first day of the first Test match, since then we've probably seen a gradual strengthening of Australia's positions. I'm one of Kane Williamson's biggest fans, I really am. I think he's done a magnificent job with the New Zealand side in his time. He's been a slightly reluctant leader at times and I just noticed a bit of a trend where he doesn't look to me as though he's really enjoying the role as much as what he has in the past. And that can be a build-up of many things and playing Australia in Australia can be one of them."

When asked about Williamson's decisions which irked him the most, McCullum replied:

"I thought tactically there were a couple of plays which he made yesterday which I thought were slightly uncharacteristic of Kane. But our relationship is very strong. He knows that I've got his back and it's just a bit of constructive criticism and he knows that some of those decisions weren't quite right."

He later disclosed the details of the conversation that he had had with Williamson earlier in the day. McCullum continued:

"One of the points I was trying to make to Kane this morning was that there were 20,000-odd New Zealanders who have travelled from across the ditch to come and watch New Zealand. And even though New Zealand was under an immense amount of pressure the New Zealand national anthem was being belted out from the stands. And it's just how proud of this team that he's built that New Zealand is and they don't expect that the New Zealand side is going to win every game and they can understand that this is a tough place to tour. But they want to see the team play with a smile on their face, that same positive attitude, and carry themselves in that confident manner and occasionally land a few blows back on the opposition so they know that they've been in a contest."

The former Kiwi captain concluded by saying that he tried to remind Williamson about the young boy who fell in love with cricket way back in the early days. He told him that sometimes the pressure gets the better of the players and takes the enjoyment away from the game. Ultimately, the former New Zealand captain mentioned that he hoped that things would change as he felt Williamson had a bit of a spring in his step.

What's next?

At the end of Day 3, Australia have a lead of 456 runs with 6 wickets in hand. New Zealand have minimal chances of saving the game but if the batsmen play to their full potential in the second innings then, there could be a small chance for the visitors.