The first ball Brendon McCullum faced in this World Cup, in the opening game, he bludgeoned to the extra cover boundary. That was off Nuwan Kulasekera. The next ball he faced, from Lasith Malinga, he sliced squarer for another boundary.
Both were typical McCullum shots, identifiable not only by the technique but by the gusto with which he approached them. He left nothing short, neither power nor conviction, in either.
He has maintained the approach through the tournament no matter the opposition, venue, or circumstance of the match.
Nowhere did it provide a more memorable spectacle than in him charging down the pitch to Mitchell Johnson, the world’s meanest fast bowler. And yet McCullum jumped at him as if he, not Johnson, was the fast bowler.
This tournament, as this entire last year, has seen an extreme McCullum, which is a little like saying Base jumping has developed an extreme version of itself – perhaps without parachutes.
Maybe even more illustrative of this McCullum than any innings or shot was that reckless and astonishing dive at the extra cover boundary against Bangladesh.
That kind of commitment to daredevilry meant something far greater than what would have been the actual achievement – a fairly mundane one, in the prevention of a boundary.
In many ways, that abandon, that spirit has taken hold of the side he is leading, even the country he is representing. New Zealand is famously a rugby country, yet in this tournament they have given themselves to cricket like rarely before.
Certainly games in New Zealand this tournament – especially involving them – have looked and sounded somehow more alive than many in Australia.
So though it is easy to look at their previous semi-final record of six played and six lost and conclude that New Zealand are just a semi-finals kind of team, this time they are not. This time, they are, potentially, the best ODI side in the world at this moment.
Just as the only other time New Zealand looked so good at a World Cup – back in 1992 – this time, too, the team has increasingly begun to feel simply an extension of its leader.
Most vividly, they have been so with the ball and in the field, where McCullum has unleashed his bowlers as he has unleashed himself. Trent Boult and Tim Southee have bowled purely to take wickets and, with 34 between them, the policy has not failed.
The most striking aspect of the attack, though, has been how thin it is. So many sides have struggled with fifth and sixth bowling options and suffered for it.
New Zealand have options, but McCullum has relied essentially on Boult, Southee, Adam Milne and Daniel Vettori.
He has made sure his main bowlers have every opportunity to pick up as many wickets as they can and let a fifth option take care of itself, which it has. Corey Anderson has bowled, on average, just over four overs a match and picked up 11 wickets.
It has been a captaincy on a tightrope, at full speed, and it has been exactly as thrilling to watch.
If there is concern anywhere, it is in the batting. Kane Williamson has had a quiet World Cup and Ross Taylor is just now scrapping his way into some form.
In fact, for all the bluster, the one thing missing from the tournament is a real big, standout McCullum innings. Thrice he has crossed fifty in seven games, but not once has he gone over 77.
His 269 runs are ample – especially if you consider his strike rate – but that is only 32 more runs than Martin Guptill managed in the quarter-final. And for a shot in the semi-final, for a shot at history, never has one been more necessary.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
Follow our sports coverage on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Brief scoreline:
Al Wahda 2
Al Menhali 27', Tagliabue 79'
Al Nassr 3
Hamdallah 41', Giuliano 45 1', 62'
UAE%20medallists%20at%20Asian%20Games%202023
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
SCORES IN BRIEF
New Zealand 153 and 56 for 1 in 22.4 overs at close
Pakistan 227
(Babar 62, Asad 43, Boult 4-54, De Grandhomme 2-30, Patel 2-64)
EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBERS
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
WHAT%20IS%20'JUICE%20JACKING'%3F
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
LUKA CHUPPI
Director: Laxman Utekar
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Cinema
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak, Aparshakti Khurana
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Mamo Year it started: 2019 Founders: Imad Gharazeddine, Asim Janjua Based: Dubai, UAE Number of employees: 28 Sector: Financial services Investment: $9.5m Funding stage: Pre-Series A Investors: Global Ventures, GFC, 4DX Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, Olive Tree Capital, and prominent Silicon Valley investors. 
