Marty Guptill, talk about a batting demolition! 93 runs he scored against Sri Lanka from a mere 30 balls, if his bowlers hadn’t racked up the wickets in bowling SL out for only 118 then he might’ve topped AB De Villiers’ record fastest century but he ran out of runs to play with. He was in with a shot at the quickest ever fifty in fact but with four runs needed from four balls to get it done, a Dushmantha Chameera slower ball and a few Nuwan Kulasekera yorkers slowed him down. Instead he had to settle for a paltry New Zealand record of 17 balls.

Most countries, you’d take that as a given, but with New Zealand there seems to be a whole bunch of these rapid fifties. It’s hard to say why exactly, but no team quite flies off the batting handles to such incredible degrees like the Blackcaps do. Along with shaking hands, losing coin tosses, struggling against spin and second innings collapses, it’s kind of our thing. Take a look at these figures, the fastest ever fifties in One Day Internationals:

Of the 17 half-tons in ODIs to have been scored in under 20 deliveries, five have come by New Zealanders, all of them current players. Four have also come by Pakistanis, all of them named Shahid Afridi. Then there are three South Africans, three Australians and two Sri Lankans. That seems like a really disproportionate amount of willow-swung pyrotechnics for a country that hasn’t ever really been a powerhouse, especially when you add in the six occasions of an NZer passing 50 in 20 or 21 deliveries.

And how about this stat: The four worst economy rates by bowlers in an ODI (with at least two overs completed) all came against New Zealand:

1. Steven Finn (ENG) – 2 overs for 46 runs at 24.50
2. Ravi Rampaul (WI) – 3 overs for 64 runs at 21.33
3. Dushy Chameera (SL) – 2 overs for 41 runs at 20.50
4. Shahadat Hossain (BAN) – 2 overs for 38 runs at 19.00

Brendon Barrie McCullum was the chief annihilator in two of those hidings, a rapid run chase against Bangladesh in which he scored 80* chasing a total of 94, his opening partner Jamie How left unbeaten on 7. He also nearly murdered Steve Finn in that first one. That was in the recent World Cup, Southee got a bunch of wickets and then Baz went HAM to try win it before lunch. We didn’t, they had to have a half hour break with only a handful of runs to win. He did score 77 off 25 though. Then the Sri Lankan one was Guppy in this game, poor Chameera, and the Rampaul shattering was performed by Corey Anderson on the way to the fastest ever test century… which AB de Villiers has dutifully beaten since, also against the Windies. That innings of ABDV also included that record fifty.

It’s telling that this stuff doesn’t translate into the fastest hundreds. NZ has two of the seven quickest (Anderson and also Jesse Ryder – both in the same game) and then nothing until spot #36, which was Craig McMillan off 67 balls against Australia in 2007. That was the game in Hamilton where the Blackcaps chased down 347 to win with three balls and a single wicket remaining. If you wanna label the problem there as a B-Mac thing, with his conversion rate of 5 100s for 32 50s in ODIs, so be it, but remember that a large chunk of these things came in second innings chasing small scores. McCullum, and by extension the rest of the team, simply don’t wait around when there’s a bonus afternoon at the links to sneak in. Or, in Kane Williamson’s case, an extra couple hours in the nets suddenly available.

Also opening it up to test matches, we have two of the top twenty fastest fifties: Tim Southee vs England in 2008 (T-11th from 29 balls) and McCullum vs Pakistan in 2014 (T-13th from 30 balls). McCullum does have test centuries from 74 and 78 deliveries but that’s nothing close to Viv Richards’ 56 ball ton in the 1985/86 season against England. Call it situational batting, perhaps.

It is odd to see New Zealand do so well in such a specific way but there is one recurring factor that probably explains it all. If you take Brendon McCullum’s efforts out of the reckoning then there is nothing so special to talk about.

Actually, you have to go back to a 53 (57) knock, batting at number five in a game against the Windies on Boxing Day 2013 (with NZ bowled out for 153, eventually losing by two wickets) for the last time McCullum scored 30+ in an One Dayer at a strike rate below 100.  That’s 33 innings, six fifties and a century ago. 23 of his 37 scores above 50 have come at strike rates exceeding a run a ball. 10 of those have come at SRs of over 200. Remember, we’re talking about the only man in cricket history with both 100 sixes in test matches and 150 in ODIs.

This has always been McCullum’s strength, his carefree ability to absolutely crush a cricket ball. It was why people complained at him opening the batting at first when he was such a dynamic closer and it is why he has come to represent something of a pinch-hitter at the top in the last few years. He can take a game away from you before you’ve had time to make a bowling change or he can give his team the head start they need to chase down a big score. While his test scores have taken a dramatic upsurge since he became captain (average 45.31 as captain and 35.63 when not), his ODI numbers have only risen by less five runs on average and that includes his slow start to his career as a lower order wicket keeper – it took him 45 matches to steady his average above 20.00 and it wasn’t until his 200th ODI that it finally touched above 30.00 (for the record, it’s currently at 30.42 after 256 games). However his strike rate definitely has shot up since he took the reins, from 88.5 to 117.70. That’s straight up insane. He scores 117 runs per 100 balls as captain. It’s also 18 runs higher when not the designated keeper, despite a slightly decreased average. He has scored nine ODI fifties in 25 or fewer deliveries. Nine of them.

• Shahid Afridi – 10
• Brendon McCullum – 9

Needless to say nobody else comes close to these two legendary sloggers. For most batsmen it’s a once-in-a-career heroic and yet for those two we’re talking a semi-regular occurrence. Afridi was nicknamed Boom Boom for a reason. A record 251 sixes in ODIs, he played 398 games in his stellar career as one of the most exciting players to ever grace the game. He took care of New Zealand a couple times, that’s for sure. He was mostly a lower/middle order bruiser though, while McCullum has done so much of that damage from the top. Pre-emptively destroying people. (Though let’s be fair with Boom Boom and include his 395 wickets as well).

We all know why this is. McCullum as a leader has had great success in encouraging his lads to play their natural game, to have fun and to be aggressive. His captaincy is built on advancing the game through positive action and when he wields that heavy bat of his, that means hitting boundaries. Having a bowling attack that can bowl to plans and take plenty of wickets is massive as well, especially when it comes to setting small targets to chase, and so is having the support in the lower order to ensure that his wicket isn’t all-important. He has freedom because Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor follow him and can be relied on for quality runs through the middle of an innings. Not to mention Martin Guptill, whose occasional struggles in the longer form (as well as that period where he couldn’t turn the strike over to save himself in any cricket) have disguised the fact that he is a genuinely world class batsman in this form of the game. That dude has a double century. In a World Cup knockout match.

McCullum clearly thinks that he and his team play best when they play at pace. And judging by their recent results, you’d have to say he’s right – they’re only a few months removed from the nation’s best ever World Cup performance. But here’s another one to reinforce it all:

• Brendon McCullum in ODI Wins: Strike Rate of 109.39
• Brendon McCullum in ODI Losses: Strike Rate of 80.71

When he scores freely, good things happen. His average is also 15 runs higher in wins, but that’s less telling, since games are won with runs so of course the ones where runs are scored are the ones they’re more likely to win. By the way, that strike rate leaps to 115.02 in wins when NZ bats second.

Moral of the story: We’re gonna miss the hell outta Brendon McCullum when he retires… but at least we'll still have this fella: