Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has recently talked about the fallout with star batsman Ross Taylor where Taylor had pipped the former as captain after Daniel Vettori stepped down from the position after the 2011 World Cup.
“It put some pressure on my friendship and relationship with Ross. I have a lot of development and under-age cricket with Ross. I was the captain of the U-19 team and Taylor was my vice-captain. We’ve always got on really well,” McCullum said in a Sky Sports Podcast.
“We had to go for an interview for the job. It was about presenting the map for the future of New Zealand cricket to a panel. I don’t really know what we were doing. If I had my time, I would’ve said ‘No I’m not going to come and go through the process, you appoint Ross as captain and then we’ll see what unfolds from there.’ It’s a bad stain for New Zealand cricket and put pressure on Ross and me. Then it led me to eventually take over the captaincy from Ross,” added Brendon McCullum.
Ross Taylor had issues with the then coach Mike Hesson after a 1-1 Test series draw in Sri Lanka way back in 2012. They also lost the series in South Africa, the West Indies and India and slipped ninth places in the ODI rankings as well after that. However, Taylor was asked to be the Test captain while McCullum for the limited-overs but he refused.
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“I was asked if I wanted to take over the role of New Zealand captain in all three formats. So initially, I told them I would get back to them. I needed to think long and hard thought it. I knew it would be a major controversial decision. I knew it could have major ramifications on NZ Cricket, and also on my time as a player,”added the former player.
I sat down with my wife, and said ‘you are the best equipped to do it, if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, but you’re the best equipped to do it’. So I gave them a call, and said I would do it. Ross had turned down the Test captaincy role. I don’t know what happened at the time. There was a lot of controversy. New Zealand Cricket has moved on from that time now,” Brendon McCullum said.
However, McCullum later took over the responsibility in all formats in December 2012 and led the side until 2016 when he announced his retirement. After that, Kane Williamson was handed over responsibility.
“We are not best friends. I have immense amount of respect for him. He has a lovely family and a great career. He is at peace and content in his personal life. He has done really really well,” Brendon McCullum concluded.
