Good news for New Zealand cricket fans! Mitchell Santner has officially taken over as the captain of the One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) teams. This announcement was made on Wednesday.
Santner has played 243 international matches for New Zealand and has already led the team in 24 T20I matches and four ODIs. He’s been captain since Kane Williamson stepped down following the T20 World Cup this year.
Santner will start his new full-time role in the upcoming series against Sri Lanka, which will happen in late December and early January. This series will kick off a busy time for the team, including an ODI Tri-Series in Pakistan in February. After that, they will compete in the ICC Champions Trophy and face Pakistan in both T20I and ODI matches at home.
Santner expressed his excitement about his new role, saying, “I’m really honored to be asked. It’s a big deal for me to officially lead my country in two formats. It’s a new challenge, and I’m eager to get started.”
He recently led New Zealand in their T20I and ODI series in Sri Lanka. Santner is known for being one of the best white-ball bowlers in the world and is one of only four players in New Zealand to have played over 100 T20I and ODI matches. He first captained the T20I team against the West Indies in November 2020 and became the ODI captain during a game against Scotland in 2022.
This is an exciting time for New Zealand cricket as some older players are moving on, giving younger players a chance to step up and help the team succeed.
New Zealand’s head coach, Gary Stead, praised Santner, saying, “Mitch is a great team player and leads by example. He’s calm and collected, earning a lot of respect in the team. He has valuable experience leading the T20 team and did well in the recent ODI matches.”
Stead explained that this decision was made because they want Tom Latham, who is already a very good captain for the Test team, to focus fully on that job, which requires a lot of time and energy.
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