Brendon McCullum has simply changed the fortunes of New Zealand cricket with his ever lively and energetic captaincy. McCullum has led from the front and he has molded aggression as one of the assets for the Blackcaps. After announcing his retirement after the home tests against Australia, the Kiwis named batsman Kane Williamson as the next captain.
Williamson, who off late has been among the best batsmen around, said that he wanted to carry forward the legacy of McCullum. “I’ve been enjoying stepping in for Brendon when he’s not around,” Williamson said. “We’ve been playing some good cricket together. What Brendon and Mike Hesson have created over a number of years has been huge for the team. Having the interim role as captain, it’s important that you continue the good things we’ve been doing. That’s a focus of mine. There are number of leaders in the team, all of whom need to take some responsibility.”
Williamson was quick to admit that leading New Zealand in the subcontinent was a massive hurdle, but he was gearing up for it. “Playing in the subcontinent brings a lot of challenges, skills-wise,” he said. “Leading the team, there it’s important that we are all aware of those. It’s important to encourage the side to keep playing with that freedom. It’s such a short tournament and things happen so quickly, if you can go into it with momentum and have a fearless approach, then you can make inroads in the tournament. It’s a wee-way away, but it’s in the back of some of the guys’ minds.”
“It’s important to play to the situation, and that’s the focus,” he said. “There might be the odd time where the captaincy might come into your mindset when you are looking at certain guys coming in to bat, where there wasn’t a particular order. With my batting I’m just going to keep things as simple as I can. The captaincy is of utmost importance off the field and when fielding,” Williamson said.