Brendon McCullum delighted to start with a win in World T20

Brendon McCullum and Stuart Broad trudge off the field as it starts to pour

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum was “delighted” to start with a win in the ICC World Twenty20, after they beat England by 9 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method in their opening World Twenty20 game at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Saturday.

New Zealand were 52/1 in 5.2 overs in response to England’s 172 for six when rain stopped play. Play could not be resumed due to heavy rain, forcing the umpires to call off the match.

McCullum said that a lot will depend on “luck” for all the teams to progress to the knockout stage of the tournament.

“During our innings it was wet and the top surface was slippery so hopefully we can overcome that and take the toss factor out of it. But the game was evenly poised,” McCullum said.

“It’s a funny tournament, both teams are going to need an immense amount of luck to get through. Both teams will be pleased with the performance but we’re obviously delighted with the win,” he added.

Thunder and lightning had started much earlier than the rain came down, but the on-field umpires Aleem Dar of Pakistan and Paul Reiffel of Australia decided to continue the match for a few more minutes, before heavy rains made it impossible to play.

England captain Stuart Broad was not happy with the umpires’ decision to allow the game to continue for two more balls in the fifth over despite bad weather.

“I think it would have been a good game had it lasted 40 overs, both sides were at a similar stage at the end of the powerplay but you can’t do a huge amount about the weather. We should have come off for the lightning earlier. The umpires’ decision making was average in that regard,” he said.