Sporting achievements of the year: McCullum's triple puts him in a class of his own

Brendon McCullum salutes the crowd after his test triple-century at the Basin Reserve. Photo / Mark Mitchell

We’re running nominees for the Herald’s sporting achievement of the year and will announce the winner on Saturday.

In the long and not particularly successful history of New Zealand cricket, only two players - Stephen Fleming (111) and Daniel Vettori (112) - have played more than Brendon McCullum's 90 tests.

Only Fleming (7172) has accumulated more than McCullum's 5653 test runs. Only Martin Crowe (17), John Wright (12), Ross Taylor (12) and Nathan Astle (11) have more than McCullum's 10 test centuries.

Chris Cairns (87) is the only New Zealander to have smote more than McCullum's 81 test sixes. Only Adam Parore (204) has effected more than McCullum's 197 dismissals.

But if he's beginning to sound like New Zealand test cricket's nearly man, here's one record he has on his own - the only man to score a test triple century. It wasn't the only high point in a year of towering peaks, but it was the most significant.

Crowe had fallen one run short on the same Basin Reserve ground 23 years earlier - "a bit like climbing Everest and pulling a hamstring in the last stride" - which only increased the pressure on McCullum as he awoke on day five of the second and final test against India 19 runs shy of the magical figure.

When the big Tuesday crowd, most dressed for a day at the office, started cheering every ball successfully negotiated, an exhausted McCullum knew he was carrying the expectation of a country upon his shoulders.

"That's probably when I understood the magnitude of the task at hand, and the immense joy it gives fans of this team to see guys succeed and see records broken," McCullum said at the end of the match, which New Zealand drew to preserve a 1-0 series win.

The standing ovation left him in no doubt. "It really hit home to me that it was quite a significant achievement for a New Zealander, and I'll certainly remember it for the rest of my life."

Nominees so far
• Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (rowing)
• Anton Cooper and Sam Gaze (mountain biking)
• The All Blacks
• Sam Webster, Ethan Mitchell and Eddie Dawkins (sprint cyclists)
• Lydia Ko (golf)
• Valerie Adams (shot put)

Milestone
• Brendon McCullum c Dhoni b Khan 302
775 minutes, 559 balls, 32 fours, 4 sixes.