For a few heart-stopping moments after a Mitchell Johnson 147km/h thunderbolt thudded into his arm Brendon McCullum feared his Cricket World Cup was over.
"For the first few seconds I was probably a little bit unsure. I thought I might be in a bit of trouble," said the New Zealand captain ahead of Sunday's match against Afghanistan.
"Sometimes you take your eye off the ball and it just shows in this game that you can quite easily get hurt.
"I'm just thankful that I managed to come through that and I've still got a part to play in this tournament."
He batted the rest of the innings with an arm guard after the sickening blow but was seemingly unaffected as he cracked a 21-ball half-century before the hosts limped over the line to beat Australia by one wicket at Eden Park.
But the 33-year-old is adamant that even if he was sidelined the side has the goods to perform without his inspired leadership.
"If the worst had of been the case I still believe we have the squad, the personnel and the leadership within this group that not too much would have changed in terms of how we go about playing the game."
Afghanistan's attack will ask fewer questions than Australia's, but the pace trio of Hamid Hassan, Shapoor Zadran and Dawlat Zadran have shown throughout the tournament that they have the ability to test batsmen.
"In the associate world they're bullies. They're quick, they're nasty but when they play full members they're not bullies," said Afghanistan coach Andy Moles.
"They need to apply themselves and the skill that they've got for longer rather than thinking that they're going to come in and blast people out."
Share
