Mitchell Santner takes over as the captaincy of the white ball for New Zealand

New Delhi: Mitchell Santner has taken over as the new captain of the New Zealand cricket team in white ball, thereby filling a six-month vacancy of the black caps after the stepping down of Kane Williamson.

Santner has so far played 107 ODIs and 106 T20Is for the black caps. The left-arm all-rounder will begin his tenure with a three-match home ODI series against Sri Lanka from December 28.

The 32-year-old has previously led New Zealand in 28 white ball matches, some on a stand-in basis after Williamson relinquished the role following the T20 World Cup in June. Santner described the full-time appointment as a “huge honour”. Furthermore, Santner added:

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…

New Zealand coach Gary Stead said Santner would bring a “calm and collected” approach to leadership, with his appointment allowing Test captain Tom Latham to focus on the longer format.

Stead further added:

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…

End of a glorious career Timothy Grant Southee!

Meanwhile, New Zealand bade farewell to one of its greatest bowlers in modern-day cricket, Tim Southee. The 36-year-old cricketer retired as New Zealand’s second-highest wicket-taker in Tests (391), behind the legendary Richard Hadlee.

Southee finished as the country’s all-time top wicket-taker (776 scalps) across all formats. Tim’s success in the history of New Zealand cricket was lauded by Hadlee in the

Tim is a true champion, a great New Zealand cricketer and sports Person…

With Southee’s retirement and the transition of captaincy to Mitchell Santner, New Zealand cricket is seeing a transition in both red-ball and white-ball cricket.