Mitchell McClenaghan

Wickets, wickets, and some wickets would be the best way to describe Mitchell McClenaghan’s bowling. For a period of time, McClenaghan was even leading New Zealand’s bowling attack in ODI cricket. 

The Hawke’s Bay native made his first-class debut for Central Districts in the year 2007. During that period, McClenaghan didn’t make much of a name for himself except for a five-wicket haul against England Lions while playing for the New Zealand Emerging Players team. 

His career took a turn for the good after joining Auckland ahead of the 2011-12 New Zealand domestic season.  In his first List A match with them, he took 5 for 30 against Northern Districts, and then followed that with 6 for 41 in his next match, against Wellington. During that season, he picked up 16 wickets in six List A games and 35 in 10 First-Class matches. 

Given the kind of form he was in, the New Zealand selectors handed McClenaghan a call-up for the tour of South Africa in the backend of the year 2012. Following some impressive performances in the T20I series, the left-arm seamer also made his ODI debut a month later at Boland Park. In that game, McClenaghan took four wickets for 20 runs as he became only the second New Zealander to pick up four wickets on his ODI debut after Dayle Hadlee.

The strong fast-medium bowler continued to shine in both ODI and T20I cricket but never came close to contention for a Test spot due to average performances at the first-class level. McClenaghan was especially superb in ODIs and went onto have a fine Champions Trophy campaign before becoming the fastest Kiwi bowler to reach 50 wickets. He reached this feat off just 23 ODI matches. The aggressive nature of the New Zealand side made him a very useful performer but the fantastic form of Trent Boult and Tim Southee meant that he could only be a reserve player during the ODI World Cup in 2015 which was hosted by Australia-New Zealand. 

Unfortunately, post the year 2016, McClenaghan has failed to make a comeback into the New Zealand side due to injuries and focus on franchise cricket. Even his last T20I against West Indies in the year 2018 came while representing an ICC World XI at the Lord’s Stadium.

Even though he has been out of favor for New Zealand, McClenaghan has turned out to be a successful T20 journeyman. He has been pretty successful for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL after joining them for the first time in the 2015 season. McClenaghan took 18 wickets in that season including a three-wicket haul in the final to help Mumbai lift their second IPL title. Overall, he has picked 71 wickets in 56 matches for the 4-time IPL champions, Mumbai Indians. 

After being a regular for various teams in England’s domestic competitions until 2016, McClenaghan turned his attention to leagues like the CPL, PSL, and even the inaugural edition of the Afghanistan Premier in 2018.  At 34 years of age, an international comeback seems out of question but he might still have two or three seasons of franchise cricket still left in the tank.