Mark Richardson: Great expectations now as McCullum delivers

McCullum is now great, but he became great too late. Photo / Getty Images

It won't come as a surprise what I want to see from the Black Caps this year, although I don't particularly want them to be world champions.

I will be happy if they make the final. We've never been that far before and it would be a significant result.

There's growing belief in this team right now and, consequently, growing expectations. But I'm not silly. India, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, Pakistan, South Africa, and Australia all have the capability to succeed. Not England. England are a rabble.

What a final appearance will show is the ability to perform to expectations. If the Black Caps are able to succeed when they are expected to, then this will be a place we have seldom been as a cricket nation.

If this happens, then the world will truly be this current teams' oyster this year and beyond.

Perhaps we could start that process off this year with a win first-up this week, when they are expected to win.

I also want to see Tom Latham and Hamish Rutherford establish a test-match opening partnership of note. I'm tired of the search for openers - sick and tired of it - and it's time this duo repaid the faith placed in them.

The engine room of run-scoring in the current test team is, and will remain this year, No 3 through No 5 but a little stability at the top will assist them greatly.

I guess I have to wait a few months for this to materialise but, come November, I don't want to be writing about who should open in tests for New Zealand.

One thing is certain: I don't want to see Brendon McCullum open the batting in test cricket but I do want to see him continue to play tests.

What I mean is, I don't want to see McCullum retire from test cricket this year.

I have waited too long to see this little treasure become great and I'm not ready yet to lose him to a game in which records matter.

McCullum has transformed. He was an exciting prospect, then an underachiever, then he delivered on that promise and now he has surpassed our expectations.

McCullum is now great, but he became great too late. He became great with a dicky knee and dodgy back, both of which are now in serious overuse due to the demands placed upon him from every corner of the cricketing world.

If I was going to make a bold 2015 prediction, it would be that McCullum retired from test cricket to prolong his career. If he did, he would still leave as one our great test cricketers but I'd like him to leave as one of our great test leaders and he needs to direct the success of his current team a little longer for that to be the case.

Finally, in 2015, I want to see Australia get their comeuppance.

They are the hypocrites of world cricket, always preaching the spirit of the game, demanding others play as such and then carrying on like a bunch of pork chops themselves.

Someone end the pain for me, please. Someone please shut them up. The problem is they are bloody good again and I fear in 2015 they will once again be world champions.

Mark Richardson: