Chris Rattue: McCullum flawed but incredible

McCullum is a different case, but he's also in the same boat. Photo / Getty Images

Don't sweat the small stuff.

That's the way to judge Brendon McCullum. It's the way history judges just about everyone.

I've met many people eager to wrestle with the McCullum legacy since he announced that the February two-test series against Australia will be his international swan-song. He is proving a hard man to judge and one everyone wants to judge, a testament to his star power.

McCullum had his weaknesses - he sure did - including an inability to truly deliver on an outstanding potential as a batsman. There are a few reasons, and it is a bit of a disappointment, but, then again, a test average in the late 30s is nothing to be sneezed at by New Zealand standards.

I gave up quibbling about McCullum a long time ago. The man is a batting genius, if flawed, and I say that in part because, of all the sports I played, usually quite badly, batting in cricket was by far the most difficult art.

The game is set up as a batsman's paradise these days, so we are told. But to do what McCullum has done, tearing bowling attacks apart at times, is as incomprehensible as working out where the universe begins and ends to me.

There are a lot of stunning sports characters whose long-lasting fame obliterates the fine, less successful detail of their careers. Case in point: the late Jonah Lomu was a fairly ordinary footballer at times, his medical condition having to be taken into account, of course. History is already ignoring Lomu's down-times, and fair enough.

McCullum is a different case, but he's also in the same boat. I salute the man, and what he has done for cricket. He's come unstuck at times, too many times. But a lot of conservative batsmen have come unstuck, and don't get pilloried for being too conservative the way McCullum is dissed for being a little wild.

The kids love him, and he has given us spells of breathtaking entertainment beyond compare with some very big numbers and significant international success into the bargain. He's also expanded the horizons, opened the eyes to new possibilities, partly through his captaincy.

I'm not a big fan of his white-knight-saviour bizzo, and there have to be questions about his part in the axing of Ross Taylor as captain. At the least, it's difficult to believe that his close ally Mike Hesson, the coach, did not act without knowing that McCullum was keen or prepared to take over.

As for hanging in for the upcoming Aussie series, yes, yes yes.

The high-profile Chris Cairns perjury trial in London, where McCullum was called as a witness, has undoubtedly distracted and drained him. But he has nearly two months to get his head back together for one last fling.

Tactically, he will have instincts and information about Australia that are priceless. The chance of seeing just one more amazing, match-turning McCullum innings against our greatest foe is worth the risk. One last roll of the dice could give us a summer not to be forgotten.

All the best in international retirement, Brendon McCullum. Thanks for some truly amazing memories. So incredible was McCullum at his best, so tantalising was the thought of seeing him flay an attack, that he will be missed as much as any New Zealand sports star of recent times.