I liken NZ's cricket side over the last couple of years to an old engine in the shed that every so often sputters into life, then coughs and dies, and at times threatens to just work. Last few years we've found some good players to make up the numbers in our side, a few key players have gradually improved, our young bowlers have gained experience and started to prove themselves, though there've been a few backward steps too.
Whether we win this match against England or not, I think it's quite likely NZ are at the beginning of a period in test cricket where we are more competitive and more consistent. If so, history will no doubt be written as if McCullum's captaincy was the deciding factor and that will serve as a post-hoc justification for stabbing Taylor in the back. However the improvement process started under Taylor and we can't know how we'd be going now if he was still captain, or indeed how we might have gone in the months prior to his sacking if he'd had support from coach and management. McCullum's leadership may be an important part of our improvement, or it may just be that he took over at just the time when we were on the verge of being competitive anyway.
I do like McCullum's field placings and it's possible he's providing leadership to some of our players in a way Taylor wasn't before, though we can't know for sure. It helps that McCullum is batting well and a lot of the punts he or the team has made so far have come off (who would have guessed Peter Fulton?). I'll be interested to see how team culture (or what little we get to know about it) develops over the next 12-18 months - some question marks still for me.
