Munro credits ‘mentors’ McCullum, Guptill after record ton

A 119-run victory in the third Twenty20 International at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Wednesday (January 3) capped a successful series for New Zealand as they blanked West Indies across formats.

The 2-0 win – one match was hit by rain and abandoned – in the three-match series was preceded by 2-0 and 3-0 sweeps in the Test matches and One-Day Internationals.

New Zealand posted 243 for five after Colin Munro hammered a 33-ball 104, thereby becoming the first person to score three centuries in international T20 cricket. West Indies were restricted to 124 for nine in their chase, with Shai Hope unable to take the field after sustaining a shoulder injury while fielding.

The series will be remembered for Munro's rise as he established himself as one of the key men in the New Zealand limited-overs set up, especially the shortest format, where he scored two half-centuries and a century. He was adjudged the Man of the Match as well as Man of the Series.

After the game, Munro revealed that he had learnt a lot from his mentors Brendon McCullum, who had two T20I centuries, and Martin Guptill. “He (McCullum) keeps telling me the same things as he did when I played under him – stand still, be aggressive, and just have some fun,” said Munro.

“I'll keep using Brendon McCullum as my mentor, and the experience of Martin Guptill as well. Batting with him day-in, day-out. As long as I can stay in a clear frame of mind, I think I'll be all right.

“I've learnt a lot over the last six months, I had to work on my technique in white-ball cricket, against the swinging ball. I learnt a lot from Guptill and Brendon. I've found a technique that works for me. It's about doing what works well for you.”

Munro hoped to extend his purple patch to the ODIs as well – he averages 35.50 after ten matches – and was eyeing the five-match series against Pakistan, beginning on January 6. “I've got to take the good and the bad when I go out and play the way I do,” he said. “I'm fortunate enough now that it's going well, but it's not always going to go well, so I've just got to ride this wave as long as I can. It's still pretty new in the one-day format, so I'll still keep working hard with that.

“I think a lot of talk has been about how bad the West Indies are, but no one's really given us the credit. The way we've played as a team, we've raised the bar every single game and got better and better, and I think if we can keep doing that against Pakistan, we'll go a long way to winning that series.”

For West Indies, the tour was a disappointing one. After losing the Tests and the ODIs, the shortest format was thought of as their best opportunity to get their first win on the tour – they are the world champions in the format after all.

It wasn’t to be, and Carlos Brathwaite, the T20I captain, admitted Munro was too hot to handle. “Munro had a great couple of games,” he said. “We had a few plans against him. Some of them we executed and he got past them, some of them we didn't execute.”

The target of 245 was the highest on New Zealand soil, and West Indies eventually fell well short. “We decided we were going to go for it, but it was a disappointing performance. We were behind the eight-ball, we got ruffled. Munro capitalised on our mistakes, and sometimes you have to say the opposition played better than you.”