‘Disappointed’ McCullum ready to quit Lahore Qalandars captaincy

Dubai :Brendon McCullum won’t mind quitting the captaincy role at Lahore Qalandars if it helps the team take itself out of the hole it currently finds itself in.
In the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL), the Qalandars are yet to win a game having suffered six defeats in a row, leaving former New Zealand captain absolutely gutted.
“Ultimately as captain you’re responsible for the performances. I feel like I’ve done the same things that I do in any team that I’ve led, but unfortunately that hasn’t resonated,” McCullum said after his team failed to defend 163/8 against Islamabad United on Thursday.
“So that’s the question we’ve got to ask tonight as well – whether it’s better offloading it to someone else and seeing if we can get better results. Doesn’t matter if you’re saying the right things, but if they’re not hitting home or the instructions aren’t being followed, then you’re always going to be pushing it uphill,” he added.
The 36-year-old was particularly unhappy with the way his bowlers bowled at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
“…We bowled very poorly,” he said. “I thought it was a very, very good batting performance, set up by Anton Devcich [62 off 42 balls] in his first game, and [he] showed how hungry, competitive people are able to prosper. What we did after that, I was really disappointed with, to be honest. It’s not what we’re about and I don’t mind losing, but you expect to be hard to beat. We’ve got some questions to ask tonight and that’s all the way through.”
It will now take a major miracle for the Qalandars to make the play-offs with just four games remaining, and one must admit another last-place finish – fourth straight – is on the cards. McCullum continued to share his disappointment with his bowlers.
“You can sit in bowling meetings all you want. You spend an hour today talking about bowling away from Luke Ronchi and then you proceed to run in and bowl at him every single ball, so there’s a disconnect there.
“I don’t know what that is. It’s very hard on the support staff to prepare a team if guys aren’t prepared to listen, but if that’s the case, then we’re going to have to keep making changes, because there are young, enthusiastic guys in our team, which may be an opportunity, especially now since we’re out of the competition,” he said.