McCullum re-signs with Brisbane Heat

The Bash Brothers are set to light up the KFC BBL for at least another three seasons after Brisbane Heat signed their skipper and one half of the explosive duo Brendon McCullum to a contract extension.

McCullum has put pen to paper on a deal that will keep him at the Heat until the end of 2019-20's BBL|09 playing alongside fellow Bash Bro Chris Lynn.

Since giving up international cricket last year following a decorated career with New Zealand, McCullum has become one of most sought-after T20 batsmen on the planet and will again take the captaincy reins at Brisbane this summer.

His re-signing comes after Lynn, who's expected to line up alongside McCullum in teal for the Heat's season-opener against Melbourne Stars on Wednesday, signed a monster five-year deal reported to be in excess of $1m in October.

"It’s been an important year with the management of our playing list with a large number of players committing to long-term deals including Chris Lynn," Heat general manager Andrew McShea said.

"Brendon’s impact on our club on and off the field is significant and the values that he represents are also those that we see as integral to the Brisbane Heat.

"To extend his contract through to the end of BBL|09, provides our fans, members and commercial partners with a clear identity of our club."

While Lynn has been in a well-publicised race against time to be fit for the BBL, McCullum has had injury concerns of his own in recent times after breaking his arm while playing for Trinbago Knight Riders' in the Caribbean Premier League.

The 36-year-old has however since made a successful return in the Bangladesh Premier League, last week leading Rangpur Riders to the title and striking back-to-back half-centuries in the finals.

"He has made an excellent recovery from the broken arm and his last three or four innings in Bangladesh were impressive," Heat coach and McCullum's former Black Caps teammate Daniel Vettori said.

"We’re all looking forward to getting straight into our preparations ahead of Wednesday’s game."

McCullum piled on 323 runs to be the Heat's leading run-scorer in BBL|06, while Vettori has said the Black Caps legend was able to instill belief in a relatively young squad that saw them climb from sixth to second in the space of a season.

"He gives us a really strong presence and is a really strong leader within the group," Vettori told cricket.com.au recently.

"Obviously he's an amazing captain but I think the way he goes about the game, and the way he can inspire confidence in people, has been the thing the group has enjoyed the most.

"And probably some of them weren't aware that you could play in that (aggressive) manner, so to get that freedom to go out and play the way they wanted to has made a real difference to the unit."

SQUAD: Max Bryant, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Brendan Doggett, Jason Floros, Cameron Gannon, Sam Heazlett, Shadab Khan (International), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Lalor, Chris Lynn, Brendon McCullum (International, Captain), Jimmy Peirson, Matt Renshaw, Alex Ross, Mitchell Swepson, Mark Steketee, Cameron Valente.