Brendon McCullum’s letter asks New Zealand fans to be excused from work, urges support for South Africa semi-final

New Zealand captain Brendon McCulllum is one of the most popular and venerated cricketers in the world today, and he once again showed why through his gesture urging all company bosses in the country to relieve employees from their work on Tuesday, so that they could come over to Eden Park in Auckland to watch the Black Caps take on South Africa in the first semi-final of the World Cup.

Brendon McCullum is officially in charge of the whole of New Zealand! pic.twitter.com/nLqdz7td1W

— Alt Cricket (@AltCricket) March 23, 2015

“They may not be in office, but rest assured they’ll be putting in the hard yards at Eden Park, with helping us get over the line against South Africa.

“Come down and support us yourself. We’ve got a seat for with your name on it and a flag that won’t wave itself,” the letter read.

This isn’t the first time, though, that McCullum has done something of this nature. Prior to the seventh and final ODI against Sri Lanka at Wellington earlier this year, McCullum had urged the New Zealand fans to come to the ground and show their support for the Black Caps with a cheeky letter addressed to company bosses to excuse them from work.

The New Zealanders have been in red hot form at the mega event, remaining unbeaten in the group stages and then beating the West Indies by a comprehensive margin of 143 runs in the quarter-final in Wellington on Saturday.

The 33-year-old right-hander has played a crucial role in his side’s progress to the final four of the quadrennial event, having scored 269 runs in 7 matches at an average of 38.42, including a blistering innings of 77 off 25 balls against England.

Moreover, McCullum has come in for lavish praise for his attacking style of captaincy and the way he has marshalled his troops. His constant emphasis on taking wickets is illustrated by the fact that they have dismissed the opposition in six out of the seven games that they have played so far.