On Tuesday, New Zealand Cricket fills the long-standing position of Kiwi White Ball captain by announcing left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Mitchel Santner as their limited-overs captain. Santner will replace Kane Williamson, who stepped down from the ODIs and T20Is captaincy after T20I World Cup 2024 in June.
Santner, who had previously led the Kiwis in 24 T20Is and 4 ODIs as stand-in captain, will take his full-time role against Sri Lanka in late December. The first major event of his term will be in February—the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, followed by the 2026 T20 World Cup—if Santner remains captain for longer.
Being named captain of the limited-overs side, Santner said, “It’s obviously a big honour and a privilege to be asked, when you’re a young kid the dream was to play for New Zealand but have the opportunity to officially lead country in two formats is special. A new challenge and I’m excited to get stuck into the phase of white-ball cricket we have ahead of us.”
New Zealand head coach Gary Stead clarified reasons for choosing Santner as White Ball captain instead of handing over captaincy to the Test skipper Tom Latham concerning the overload on Test skipper Tom Latham.
Santner recently enjoyed a comeback in his Test career, winning Player of the Match against India in Pune and England in Hamilton. But now has the focus on colored dress games to lead the team, and New Zealand has a schedule in 2025 with limited overs games.
