New Zealand it seems was Quite fitting then that McCullum was having what he described as a "quiet celebration ... nothing strenuous".

At 29, McCullum has been a late bloomer. He first played internationally in the Twenty20 format just after his 27th birthday in September 2007 and only made his one-day debut last year.

That has often put him in the shadow of his bustling year-younger brother Brendon, who debuted for New Zealand in the summer of 2001-02.

Yesterday, he emerged with a man-of-the-match performance which, when put in context, could set the tone for one of the Black Caps' better international tournaments.

Firstly, skipper Daniel Vettori passed him the white-lacquered missile with the instructions, "open the bowling". He took one for 17 from his three overs, half of those deliveries being dot balls.

McCullum then took three catches in the outfield - the first removed Sri Lanka's best batsman Mahela Jayawardene for 81 - the next two were at long-off in the final over off Shane Bond.

Those were mere bonuses, though, for a player some consider the best fielder on the New Zealand provincial circuit.

The best was to come. Walking to the wicket at 117 for seven, he blasted 16 runs off six balls, 11 of which came in the last over off the venomous Lasith Malinga. Not a bad day's work.

What underlies McCullum's success is that he has been working hard to get over an adductor muscle problem in his groin. He spent 10 days after the Chappell-Hadlee series at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin with Chris Donaldson, the former Olympic sprinter who is now a strength and conditioning trainer at the South Island's Academy of Sport.

"Nathan came off a serious injury which was causing him a lot of pain," Donaldson said.
"He needed to take some tension out; it was very tight in there. That involved quite a bit of physiotherapy and massage. We also looked at adjusting his sprinting technique because he was loading too much weight onto his adductors."

Between celebratory sips yesterday, McCullum said Donaldson's advice was beneficial.
"I was getting my body right for cricket. It was basically strengthening my legs for running between the wickets and in the field."

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."