New Zealand Cricket's captaincy crisis has finally been resolved, with the outcome as bad as the saga itself.
Former captain Ross Taylor has rejected the chance to retain the leadership of the test team, and will sit out the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka, with Brendon McCullum to take over the captaincy of the team in all forms of the game.
After being dumped Taylor says he’s in no frame of mind to play international cricket.
“I'm sure it'll be an easier transition if the present captain is not there,” he says.
Today NZC finally fronted up following a week-long PR disaster, the result of which will see the BlackCaps tour South Africa without their best player.
“It's not ideal and we would be a stronger team with Ross Taylor in it,” says NZC chief executive David White.
NZC only has itself to blame following a series of blunders in the wake of a meeting between Taylor and BlackCaps management ahead of the first test against Sri Lanka.
“They said in a nutshell I wasn't good enough in the job and next day Hesson came to me, three days before the test, [and] said he'd recommend we have a new captain for South Africa,” says Taylor.
“I certainly regret if he felt if that was in relation to the test side, the review was following the one day series,” says Hesson.
After a clear breakdown in communication, Taylor was surprised to be given the chance to remain in charge of the test side, an offer he could only refuse.
“To do this job you need the backing of management and I certainly didn't have that,” says Taylor.
Hesson says the offer of the test captaincy remains on the table for when Taylor's expected to return for England's tour of New Zealand early next year, but the former captain is offering no guarantees.
“I'd hope I'm back for England, I enjoy playing for my country and I'll do everything possible to do that,” he says.
Anything else would be a further blow following a crisis poorly handled by NZC, but the chief executive refuses to resign.
“I am not walking away from this job,” says White.
There are no winners to emerge from this debacle - not least McCullum who inherits the captaincy.
He will hold his first press conference as BlackCaps captain tomorrow.
3 News
source: newshub archive
