Mitchell Santner Named New Zealand’s White-Ball Captain

Spinner Mitchell Santner has been appointed as New Zealand’s white-ball captain. Santner has taken 108 wickets in 107 One Day Internationals (ODIs) at an average of 37.46 and 117 wickets in 106 Twenty20 Internationals (T20s) at 22.02. The 32-year-old succeeds Kane Williamson, who resigned from the role after the T20 World Cup earlier this year. Santner has frequently deputized for Williamson and has previously led the Black Caps in 24 T20s and four one-day internationals. His first engagement as the permanent skipper will be a T20 series against Sri Lanka, which is set to begin on 28 December. “It’s obviously a huge honour and a privilege to be asked,” stated Santner, who has played 213 white-ball matches for New Zealand. He continued, “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.” Coach Gary Stead indicated that Santner’s appointment was made to allow Tom Latham, who has captained in all three formats, to focus on his current position as Test skipper. “Mitch is a fantastic team man and leads by example in all facets of the game,” Stead remarked. He added, “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.”