Mitchell Santner Named New Zealand White-Ball Captain, Replacing Kane Williamson
Mitchell Santner has been appointed as the new skipper of New Zealand’s white-ball team, replacing Kane Williamson, who stepped down after the ICC T20 World Cup held in June. The 32-year-old player will now be leading the teams in both ODI and T20I formats. He has played 243 international matches for New Zealand and has led the team in 24 T20Is and four ODIs.
His tenure as a full-time skipper will start with the T20I and ODI series against Sri Lanka in late December and early January. The two series for white-ball cricket for New Zealand will include an ODI tri-series in Pakistan in February followed by the ICC Champions Trophy and a home T20I and ODI series against Pakistan to finish the home summer.
Santer commented on taking up the role and said it was a huge honour and privilege to be on the team that you dreamt of playing for and now leading in both formats.
“It’s obviously a huge honour and 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. 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.”
Head coach Gary Stead talked about the decision of appointing Santner the skipper of white-ball teams was to allow Tom Latham, red-ball skipper, to focus on Test cricket.
“In Tom Latham we have an accomplished and experienced captain who has led the side admirably across all formats. Tom is 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.”