Mitchell Santner has been officially appointed as New Zealand’s full-time white-ball captain

Mitchell Santner has officially been appointed as the captain of New Zealand’s white-ball teams.

He takes over the role on a full-time basis from Kane Williamson, who stepped down following the Black Caps’ early exit from the T20 World Cup in the USA & West Indies.

Santner, one of only four players to represent New Zealand over 100 times in both white-ball formats, has already captained the team in 24 T20Is and 4 ODIs, including during their most recent tour of Sri Lanka last month.

His full-time captaincy will begin with the T20I and ODI series against Sri Lanka in late December and early January.

These series mark the start of an intense period of white-ball cricket for New Zealand, which includes an ODI tri-series in Pakistan in February, the ICC Champions Trophy, and a home T20I and ODI series against Pakistan to conclude the home summer.

“It’s obviously a huge honour and a privilege to be asked,” said Santner.

“As a 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.

It’s a new challenge, and I’m excited to get stuck into this important period of white-ball cricket ahead.

There’s a bit of a changing of the guard with some of our experienced players at the back end of their careers, and I think that’s exciting for the rest of the group and the young players to now take on the challenge and drive this team forward to further success.”

Head coach Gary Stead explained that the decision to hand Santner the captaincy was made to allow red-ball skipper Tom Latham to focus on Test cricket.

“Tom Latham has been an accomplished and experienced captain across all three formats.

He’s doing a great job as full-time Test captain since taking over in October, and we want to allow him to focus on that role, which requires significant time and energy.”