In true kiwi fashion, Brendon McCullum retired after a Test series. That this came after a 2-0 series win wasn't typical of most kiwi cricket retirements, it was however the perfect situation for McCullum to announce that he would end his international career after the Australian Test series.

2-0 series wins signal the sort of domination that the New Zealand cricket team has lacked for much of my lifetime. Under McCullum's guidance we have see the BLACKCAPS switch their focus towards winning, so it's only right that McCullum made this announcement piggy-backing off a series win.

Tributes have and will flow over the next few months and rightfully so. I'm struggling to come up with names of kiwi cricketers who have had such an impact on the national side and that is where McCullum will go down in history. Well, that and his 3-hundy ... and that 158 in the first IPL game ever.

Whether McCullum will go down as one of our best (top-10ish) batsmen ever is up to personal opinion and will be debated at nauseam. This is a bloke who polarized our little nation, people expected McCullum to do more with his swashbuckling style of willow weilding. To think of McCullum as anything more than a pinch-hitter (one of the highest calibre) though is unfair on McCullum, hence why I feel much of the criticism towards him is a bit silly.

Patient innings' full of leaves and forceful defensive shots are an outlier for McCullum. That many fans would rather see McCullum bat in a way that simply didn't come naturally to him, nor was it his best asset probably tells you more about fans that it does McCullum.

Some batsmen are good at leaving and defending, pouncing on a bad ball. Some batsmen are good at forcing the bowler's hand via aggression. Kane Williamson is the best batsman in the world because he juggles both. McCullum preached to his comrades about playing naturally, as you would in the backyard and to in turn enjoy themselves. McCullum, as all good leaders should, led with his actions.

With all due respect to McCullum, I'm very happy that he is retiring. McCullum ushered in the first wave of our nation's best generation of cricketers that we will ever see, acting as a bridge (a bridge who/which made life so much better)between then and now, shit times and good times.

I expect Kane Williamson to become the skipper and he could be our greatest skipper ever, better than McCullum yes. This will become Williamson's team and the hole left by McCullum should be filled by a young batsman; Will Young is at the top of my list while Henry Nicholls already has his foot in the door with his ODI squad selection.

There was know confusion about McCullum as a batsman, there never was. McCullum attacked and attacked ruthlessly, a role that most cricket teams around the world have in various forms. McCullum's antics with the bat in hand will only be half of how he is remembered. McCullum took New Zealand cricket and showed them the way, now that's a legacy.