Baz finding it tough at the top

It was bad enough that he was singled out in the New Zealand Cricket contracts saga and made to look disloyal.

It was especially galling to be sacked as vice-captain and told to concentrate on scoring runs.

It will be potentially devastating to his psyche to lose the one-day opening role he so obviously covets.

But that's what is facing Brendon McCullum in this three-match series against Pakistan. He wants to open for New Zealand in ODIs.

He sees it as a chance to win a match for his country every time he walks out to the crease.

He has three games, against a handy new ball attack at that, to prove to the selectors that his immense skills are better suited to the initial 10-over powerplay than they are to the discretionary powerplay the batting captain can call on later in the innings.

No pressure then, Brendon.

The question of where best to use McCullum in the batting order has become a hardy annual but it is a debate with no winner. Given that he cannot perform both roles at the same time, it is impossible to say whether effectiveness or otherwise in either position comes down to suitability, or just plain old form issues.

At the recent Champions Trophy in South Africa, McCullum was actually quite good, reaching 40 in his first three innings, getting half a start in his fourth, before an excruciating 14-ball duck in the final.

What was more worrying than his productivity, however, was the fact McCullum did not look as if he was sure about how he was meant to play. He is at his devastating best when he has a licence to attack from ball one. Instead, he often looked like he was batting against the fear of failure.

In that respect, McCullum faces a horrible dilemma in the desert: to be at his best, he must take the risk of failing; if he fails, he will likely face a drop down the order when Bangladesh arrive in New Zealand later in the summer.

But McCullum can at least take comfort in the fact that, despite his leadership demotion, his place in the team is never in doubt. At the same time, he is a proud man and a drop down the order would weigh heavily on him, just as it did when the selectors abandoned the idea of batting him at No 5 in tests.

As it has turned out, his greatest ally in the opening stakes could be the man who normally stands at the other end against the new white ball.

"I think he should stay up there and I don't see why people are saying put him back to seven because the records show that we do pretty well together up the top of the order," Jesse Ryder said last week.

"It's not very often we fail as a partnership and at this stage, I think it's been really good. It's good for both of us because our personalities combine well when we bat with each other out and he really is a calming influence on me."