Image courtesy of: Zimbio

New Zealand head coach Mike Hesson has announced that captain Brendon McCullum’s “Popeye” arm will be fine.

The entire New Zealand camp held their breath when McCullum was smashed on the arm by a delivery from Australia left-arm pace bowler Mitchell Johnson.

There were concerns that McCullum had broken a bone in his arm initially, but it is believed that a burst blood vessel led to his arm swelling up right away.

After getting his arm heavily strapped up, McCullum went on to score a half-century as his side skirted past Australia in a nail-biting one-wicket win.

“He looks a bit like Popeye, other than [that] he’s pretty good,” Hesson said. “It is pretty swollen, so we’ll try and get that down first and make another assessment in a day or so…but all the signs are he’ll be fine.”

Hesson also lauded batsman Kane Williamson for keeping his cool in a high pressure situation and having the guts to hit the game-winning six.

“Trent [Boult] showed a heck of a lot of character to leave a wide one when he had a fair bit of adrenalin going. It showed he was still thinking clearly,” Hesson added. “Kane realised he had to make a move, and to play the shot he did showed what a quality player he is.

“[It was] pure elation. Turning to the rest of the team and seeing the joy on their faces was pretty special. There were a lot of people who emotionally invested in outcome, who lived and breathed every ball.”