McCullum reveals playing future

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has ended speculation about his international playing future, committing to leading the Black Caps for another 12 months.

Following New Zealand’s ground-breaking World Cup final appearance and pulsating 3-2 limited-overs series loss to England this month, McCullum was undecided on his short-term plans in the 50-over game.

"I don't know. We'll wait and see," he said when asked about his one-day international future after the fifth ODI in England last week.

"We'll let the dust settle on this. It's been a great year, an incredible summer for us.

"We've scaled some heights that hadn't been done before by our country and we're starting to build a soul to how we play."

But the 33-year-old put the speculation to bed by signing on for another year and will lead the Black Caps in their highly-anticipated home and away series against Australia across the 2015-16 summer and the World T20 in India next year.

"It’s a critical time for the side,” McCullum said. “We’ve enjoyed a pretty good past 18 months, but there are some serious challenges ahead and we need to keep making progress.

"This is a young, emerging team with some very big series looming on the horizon – and it’s really exciting to be involved.”

Image Id: ~/media/E7947211200948F1A1174F11BF267C37

Back in black for another year // Getty Images 

McCullum also put pen to paper on a new three-year deal with KFC T20 Big Bash League club Brisbane Heat.

The dashing right-hander represented the Heat in the inaugural season of Cricket Australia’s revamped domestic T20 competition in 2011-12, and will again team up with former Black Caps compatriot and Heat coach Daniel Vettori.

"I’m certainly looking forward to linking up with the Heat again,’" McCullum said from England.

"Apart from Brett Lee breaking my nose in the first-ever game, I enjoyed the experience of being part of the inaugural year when it was all a bit unknown and there was a lot of excitement and buzz about the BBL.

"The competition has really developed quickly since then and from what I have seen, the standard is right up there with the best in the world.

"When Dan broached the idea of a longer term deal, I was pretty open to things. My wife comes from Lismore and our family have spent a fair bit of time over there during the past few years.

"There are some big games ahead for the Black Caps with the Test series in Australia but it will be good to know that the BBL is on after that. From what I have seen, the fans love the competition and so I’m looking forward to them cheering us on at the Gabba."