Christchurch ( /ˈkraɪstʃɜrtʃ/, KRYS-church; Māori: Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's third-largest urban area. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of Christchurch.

The city was named by the Canterbury Association, which settled the surrounding province of Canterbury. The name of Christchurch was agreed on at the first meeting of the association on 27 March 1848. It was suggested by John Robert Godley, who had attended Christ Church, Oxford. Some early writers called the town Christ Church, but it was recorded as Christchurch in the minutes of the management committee of the association. Christchurch became a city by Royal Charter on 31 July 1856, making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand.

The river that flows through the centre of the city (its banks now largely forming an urban park) was named Avon at the request of the pioneering Deans brothers to commemorate the Scottish Avon, which rises in the Ayrshire hills near what was their grandfathers' farm and flows into the Clyde.

Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981 in Dunedin) is a New Zealand international cricketer, who plays for the Otago Volts at provincial level. He is a wicket-keeper, as well as an aggressive batsman who opens in One-day Internationals and is known for his fast scoring rate. His brother Nathan McCullum is also a first-class and international cricketer at provincial level, and their father Stuart McCullum was a long-serving first-class player for Otago. Both Brendon and Nathan attended King's High School, Dunedin.

McCullum also played for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League in the first three; but in 2010, he was signed in by Kochi Tuskers Kerala. He scored 158 not out in the inaugural match of the competition on 18 April 2008. The innings is currently the world highest score by a batsman in a Twenty20 match.

He also has the ability to play the Dilscoop, which involves the batsman squatting down and scooping deliveries back over the wicketkeeper's head. Playing this shot in a Twenty20 International match on 28 February 2010, against Australia, he managed to hit Shaun Tait for two sixes in an over back over Brad Haddin's head and can also execute reverse sweep well.