Playing under McCullum for the Heat was amazing: Ben Heazlett

Ben Heazlett, the Australian batsman who made his debut for his country in the first match of the 2017 Chappell-Hadlee series impressed most with his batting. While the match was indeed centered around allrounder Marcus Stoinis and his heroics, it was quite clear that the selection of somewhat of an unknown name in the form of  Heazlett is intriguing.

He made his debut in the grand scheme of things, it was his experience playing under Brendon McCullum in the Big Bash League that ensured that he did indeed have the confidence to make it to the top as well. Speaking in the post-match presentation, Heazlett went ahead and stated that it was indeed McCullum who instilled the confidence he required to make it big.

“Playing under him at the Heat was amazing,” Heazlett told reporters on Tuesday (January 31). “He instilled that confidence in you, to back your abilities and go out there and take risks because you’re good enough.

“He said the same message to the whole team and I can take that into the next few series that I play and into the future because it worked well and I think it’s a good way to go about cricket,” he added.

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The 21-year-old also went on to add that he was pretty nervous at the beginning, but it was Darren Lehmann who instilled the confidence Heazlett required to go out and back himself to perform.

“I was a little bit nervous but no more than any other cricket game. I’m usually pretty nervous,” he said. “Darren (Lehmann) had a chat and just said bat the way you have been, back yourself. It’s good to have that backing from the coach.”

“It was just one of those days when it didn’t work out,” he said. “We’ll see what happens for the rest of the series. If I get another go, then great. It was pretty annoying not to score a few more … I’m just looking to bat longer, be positive.”