Mitchell Santner has been named as the full-time white-ball captain of New Zealand. Kane Williamson had stepped down from the post after the T20 World Cup earlier this year.
The left-arm spinning all-rounder was named as the stand-in captain for the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka in November. His full-time tenure will kickstart with a series against Sri Lanka at home. New Zealand play three T20Is and as many ODIs against the island nation. The series will get underway on the 28th of December.
Santner is one of the only four New Zealand cricketers to have played more than 100 games in each of the two white-ball formats. He has already led in 24 T20Is and four ODIs. He has 13 wins in T20Is and one win in ODI cricket as captain.
The 32-year-old admitted that it is a huge honour to lead the national side. He acknowledged the fact that there are some players who are towards the back end of their careers but he wants to take that as a challenge.
“It’s obviously a huge honour and a privilege to be asked. When you’re a young kid the dream was always to play for New Zealand but to have the opportunity to officially lead my country in two formats is special. It’s a new challenge and I’m excited to get stuck into the important period of white ball cricket that we have ahead of us. There’s obviously a little bit of a changing of the guard with some of our experienced players at the back end of their careers. I think that’s exciting for the remainder of the group and the young players to now take on the challenge and drive this team forward to further success,” Mitchell Santner was quoted saying after the appointment to NZC.
Tom Latham’s doing a great job as Test captain: Gary Stead
Tom Latham recently took over as the Test captain in October and led the team to a historic 3-0 series win in India. Head coach Gary Stead revealed that he wanted Latham to focus on his role as Test captain which requires quite a bit of time and energy. Thus, Santner was picked over him.
“In Tom Latham we have an accomplished and experienced captain who has led the side admirably across all three formats. Tom’s doing a great job as full-time Test captain since taking over in October and we’re keen to allow him to focus on that job which requires a considerable amount of time and energy,” Gary Stead was quoted saying.
After the series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand will be involved in a tri-series in Pakistan before the 2025 Champions Trophy. The season will finish with an ODI and T20I series against Pakistan at home. Santner’s priority will be the three ICC events in the next three years – 2025 Champions Trophy, 2026 T20 World Cup and the 2027 ODI World Cup.
