McCullum a 'threat' to us: Aaron Finch

Auckland, Feb 23 (IANS) Ahead of their Pool A World Cup game here Feb 28, Australian opener Aaron Finch Monday spoke of the threat posed by New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum, terming him to be “brutal” with the willow.

In their last match, the 33-year-old took the England bowling apart single-handedly, clobbering his way to 77 off 25 balls. He also led his team to victory in the tournament opener against Sri Lanka with a 65.

"He (McCullum) is pretty brutal when he's on. He's someone we'll have to worry about. When you've got Kane Williamson who is playing beautifully as well, he sets up their innings and they're able to bat around him," Finch was quoted as saying by the Cricket Australia website.

"So Brendon is a damaging player and he can take the game away from you if you bowl poorly to him in the first 10 overs. That's one thing we've got to make sure we're doing, is be right on from ball one otherwise you do get hurt. We've got a few plans so we'll wait and see how it goes.”

Finch praised Black Caps pacer Tim Southee too for his efforts in the last match where he picked up figures of 7 for 33 from nine overs, running through the England middle and lower order.

"He (Southee) bowled brilliantly, everything went his way the other day," said Finch.

Finch, however, added even after all these threats it will be New Zealand who will be under pressure as they will be playing a high-voltage home game.

"I think all the pressure is going to be on New Zealand the way that they've been playing and (them playing) here in New Zealand as well," said the 28-year-old.