McCullum’s ‘Popeye’ arm not a worry, says Hesson

Agencies/AucklandNew Zealand are confident that captain Brendon McCullum will be fit for next Sunday’s World Cup clash against Afghanistan despite taking a nasty blow on his left arm from Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson. McCullum hit a quickfire 50 in Saturday’s tension-packed one-wicket win over the four-time champions at Eden Park, but needed lengthy treatment on his swollen forearm. However, coach Mike Hesson expects McCullum to be fit for the remainder of the pool stage matches even though the Black Caps have already made sure of their place in the quarter-finals. “It’s pretty swollen at the moment, he looks a bit like Popeye,” Hesson said yesterday. “We’ll make another assessment in a day or so, but all signs are that he will be fine.” He also had praise for the 52-run partnership between Kane Williamson and Corey Anderson which took New Zealand to the brink of a far more comfortable victory before Anderson picked out mid-on against Glenn Maxwell. Anderson did not look comfortabe early in his innings, but took 16 off Mitchell Johnson’s comeback over although it was not the final swing of the match.“The way they developed that partnership after a shaky start showed lot of character,” Hesson said. “Those guys will be better for that experience. I think everybody will, to be fair.”However, he did concede the batting line-up will need to become tighter against the moving ball after the amount of swing on offer so far in the tournament took them by surprise.“There was some high quality swing bowling,” he said. “Tim showed that at the Cake Tin and sometimes the characteristics of the ball allows it to swing. It’s something we’re going to have to be a little bit better prepared for next time.”New Zealand have fielded the same team for all of their four wins do far leaving remaining squad players, Tom Latham, Nathan McCullum, Mitchell McClenaghan and Kyle Mills, kicking their heels. “When you have a week between games, if you leave out some of your key players, it can be two weeks before they play again, which is a long time,” added Hesson. New Zealand face Afghanistan in Napier next Sunday before completing their group campaign against Bangladesh in Hamilton on March 13.