What Really Happened When Brendon McCullum Run Out Muttiah Muralitharan In Christchurch Test?

Former New Zealand captain and present England Test head coach Brendon McCullum had once run out legendary Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan when the latter was walking towards his fellow teammate Kumar Sangakkara to congratulate him on a Test century at the Jade Stadium.

Ever since English wicket-keeper batter Jonny Bairstow was stumped by his Aussie counterpart Alex Carey on Day 5 of the recently concluded second Test of Ashes 2023, the home fans have sparked off the debate around “Fair Play” and “Spirit of Cricket” which they reckon should have been demonstrated by Australia.

On the other hand, the ones on the other side of the motion have been busy in bringing up instances and match videos from the past featuring English cricketers displaying their street-smartness and getting rid of the opposition batters while complying to the laws of the game.

McCullum, who also had expressed his reservations against the Aussie players pertaining Bairstow’s dismissal in a post-match chat, was also at the receiving end of this very “Spirit of Cricket” fallacy in Christchurch about 17 years ago.

What Really Happened When Brendon McCullum Run Out Muttiah Muralitharan In Christchurch Test?

It was the first Test match of Sri Lanka’s tour of New Zealand 2006/07 when Sri Lanka’s wicket-keeper batter Kumar Sangakkara was batting on 99* with his team having lost nine wickets in the second innings.

During the first ball of the 54th over being bowled by Shane Bond, Sangakkara played a whip towards the fine leg region to bring up a fine Test century. Muralitharan, however, soon after completing the run did not care for the fact the the ball was still in play and the fielder’s throw was yet to reach either the striker’s or the non-striker’s end.

Perhaps assuming the ball to be “dead”, the champion off-spinner casually began walking towards Sangakkara to congratulate him upon reaching the three-figure mark. It was only after almost a couple of seconds later that McCullum collected the throw and disturbed the wickets thereby running him out. Unfair play? Debatable. But, was the dismissal in accordance to the laws of the game? Undoubtedly, Yes.

Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming asserted to have no regrets with respect to the mode of dismissal. During an interaction with ESPNcricinfo after the match, Fleming remarked that if the very ball had resulted in an overthrow, he was pretty sure the two batters would have taken it.

“The ball was still alive and the game doesn’t stop when a player gets [to a] 100. You can’t just wander off when the ball’s in mid-air and if we’d had an overthrow, I’m sure they would have taken that. To my mind the ball’s still alive and .. certainly in the cut-throat environment of this competition it’s a mistake you can’t afford to make on their behalf.”

Brendon McCullum Apologized Years Later

Ten years after the 2006 Christchurch Test, McCullum decided to apologize to Muralitharan and Sangakkara for the aforementioned dismissal. He was designated to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture in honour of former English batting legend Colin Cowdrey at Lord’s.

Quite fitting for the occasion and with Sangakkara present at the venue as well, McCullum narrated how the entire dismissal unfolded that day and how he finds himself in pain to talk about it publicly even a decade later.

“Nearly ten years after running out Murali, I view things very differently and I would hope that I am am a very different person. Kumar Sangakkara is here tonight. Sanga, I admire you enormously. I regard you as a friend. And I take this opportunity to apologise to you and Murali for my actions on that day,” remarked McCullum.