New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has decided to hand over the responsibility of their one-day international and T20I captaincy to their veteran left-arm spin all-rounder, Mitchell Santner, after their all-format former captain, Kane Williamson, stepped down from the position after the end of the T20 World Cup earlier this year.
Santner has led New Zealand in the past, where he captained them in 24 Test matches and four ODIs, and his first series in the full-time role is expected to be against Sri Lanka at home in late December. These few bilateral games will help him in building for the first major event in his tenure, which is the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan, scheduled to take place in the third week of February.
After that, he will look to bring his entire attention back to the shortest format as the preparations will start for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, to be played in India and Sri Lanka.
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“It’s a huge honor 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.” Santner expressed in a video posted by the Blackcaps.
Mitchell Santner is appointed white-ball captain for New Zealand
In 101 innings of the 50-over format, the left-handed batter has smashed 1370 runs at a strike rate of around 90 with the help of three half-centuries and a best score of 67. With the ball, he picked up 108 wickets at an average of under 38 and a strike rate of 46.2 with an economy rate of just below five.
In the case of the shortest format, the 32-year-old has clubbed 710 runs in 72 innings at a strike rate of nearly 120, besides collecting 117 wickets in 104 innings at an average of 22.02 and an economy of just over seven. Having been part of many leagues of the format in the game, he has gained so much experience to raise his bar in the format.
“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.” The New Zealand captain sheds light.
The head coach of the side, Gary Stead, explained that they had been really conscious of not paying more workload on their Test captain, Tom Latham, as Santner has also been a first-choice selection across both the white-ball formats.
“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.” Stead highlighted.
The veteran also praised the contributions of Santner for the New Zealand side over the years in white-ball formats and expects the Hamilton-born to keep on growing on it in the future.
“Mitch is a fantastic team man and leads by example in all facets of the game. He’s an incredibly calm and collected personality, and he has a huge amount of respect in the changing room, which will serve him well.” The New Zealand head coach addressed.
“He’s had plenty of experience leading the T20 side and did a good job when he captained the ODI team last month, so he already has a good understanding of what it means to lead the team. I’m sure Mitch will also bring his ideas and style of leadership to the role.” Gary Stead concluded.