Nathan McCullum to retire from International cricket

Nathan McCullum to retire from International cricket: Nathan McCullum, New Zealand international cricket player and the elder brother of much celebrated Brendon McCullum, has announced that he will retire from international cricket at the end of the season, to spend more time with his family. Nathan who is 35, has already past his peak as far as fitness is concerned.

Speaking to The New Zealand Herald, he said, “I don’t want to make a big song and dance about it, but it’s time to start thinking about the next phase of my life. I’ve got the sense that the end of this season is the right time to call it quits in international cricket.”

He was also quite keen at spending more time with his wife and family. “It’s been hard work for Vanessa in the past five years,” McCullum said. “She’s spent a lot of it pregnant and has had to do it on her own most of the time. It’s time for me to start investing time in my family and being there for dinners and helping the boys with their homework.”

McCullum made his international debut against South Africa in T20Is, but he had to wait till 2009 for his ODI debut, which came against Sri Lanka. Till date, he has taken 63 wickets from 84 ODIs at an average of 46.92 and an economy-rate of 5.01. In T20Is, he has 55 wickets from 61 games at an economy of 6.9. He was no muck with the bat either, having scored 4 half centuries in the ODIs.

According to him, his best international cricket moment was his match-winning performance against South Africa in the 2011 World Cup Quarterfinals. “To come back and win a match we shouldn’t have won was pretty special.”

He heaped praise on his younger brother, and praised his captaincy. “Every now and then it’s hard case when your little brother is barking orders at you… but he deserves everything he gets in terms of praise. He’s worked his butt of and created this team along with Hess and Mike Sandle.”