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New Zealand's Brendon McCullum - Source: Reuters -
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Black Caps wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum may have lost his vice-captaincy role but opening batting partner Jesse Ryder believes he should retain his role at the top of the order.
Before the Andy Moles saga began last week the hot debate amongst the New Zealand cricket public was whether Brendon McCullum should retain his role as an opening batsman in one day internationals.
On one side of the battlefield there are those who believe that McCullum is best as a finisher, coming in at six or seven, and utilising the last power play with his quick running between the wicket and power hitting.
This motley crew remembered when McCullum was at his peak, before the 2007 World Cup, and smashed the Australians to all corners in the home Chapell-Hadlee series whitewash and think he is now just a mere shadow of his former self.
The other lot site cold, hard data as the reason McCullum should remain at the top of the innings. They rightly point out that as an opener, since November 2007, he averages over 37 in 45 matches but the detractors again point out that he only once kicked on to score a hundred.
Black Caps captain and now interim coach Daniel Vettori has indicated that McCullum will retain the role in the three-match one day series against Pakistan but if he fails to find form in the UAE he might well drop down the order.
But Ryder, who is out of the upcoming series with an abdominal injury, and who has batted with McCullum at the top of the innings on 19 occasions, firmly believes that he should remain as an opener.
"Yeah I think he should stay up there and I don't see why people are saying put him back to seven because the records show that we do pretty well together up the top of the order," Ryder told tvnz.co.nz.
"It's not very often that we fail as a partnership and at this stage I think it's been really good."
And Ryder may have a point: on five occasions they have yielded partnerships in excess of 100 runs.
But it's not just the tangibles that make the partnership special to Ryder.
"It's good for both of us because our personalities combine well when we bat with each other out and he really is a calming influence on me," he said.
Ryder meanwhile is currently undergoing rehab for his abdominal injury and is aiming to return to action for Wellington before Christmas.
