Latham will certainly be in contention to become next NZ captain: Gary Stead

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead has admitted that Tom Latham is among the players being considered to succeed Kane Williamson as full-time white-ball captain, but asserted that no decision has been made by the team with regards to the direction they want to go next.

Williamson, after giving up Test captaincy towards the end of 2022, resigned as the white-ball skipper in the aftermath of New Zealand’s disastrous 2024 T20 World Cup campaign that saw them suffer a group stage exit. With the Blackcaps not scheduled to play white-ball games until December, the management have plenty of time to zero-in on the next skipper.

Stead, speaking on July 17 (Wednesday) admitted that Latham will certainly be a strong contender to be the next skipper. The 32-year-old has plenty of leadership experience already, having led the Kiwis in a total of 66 games across all formats.

“It’s something that [selection manager] Sam Wells and I will talk about in the next little while,” said Stead, reported NZ Herald.

“We’re not at the stage of confirming it yet, so I don’t want to speculate whether Tom [Latham] will be or not. But he’s certainly one guy that will be in discussions around that role.

“The important thing is whoever is in place, we want in place for two to three years or so, leading to that next World Cup.

“That will be one of the important decision-making factors that we discuss.”

Latham admitted that it would be an honour to take over captaincy full time. The 32-year-old has been a vice-captain for the longest time, leading the Blackcaps for the first time in his career back in 2017, but the stars haven’t aligned for him, yet, to become full-time skipper.

“It would obviously be a real honour,” Latham said. “For me, it’s always about trying to put the team first.

“I’m sure they’ll have discussions about what they want from a team point of view.

“If I get the opportunity to do that, it’ll be really special.”

Something that might stand in the way of Latham becoming full-time skipper is him not being a regular in T20Is. Despite debuting back in 2012, the left-hander has only played 26 T20Is to date. He is not a part of the Blackcaps’ T20 set-up, with him not being considered for T20 World Cup selection a couple of months back.

The experienced wicket-keeper batter was all set to play in Global T20 Canada to put forward his case, but a finger injury has now ruled him out of that competition.

“I was really looking forward to the opportunity to play some T20 cricket,” he said. 

“I don’t necessarily get the opportunity to play a lot here in New Zealand, depending on the test schedule.

“It’s just one of those things you’re faced with as a sportsman, sometimes the stars don’t align.

“But I was really looking forward to the opportunity to go and play.”

Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell and Mitchell Santner are among others who could potentially be named Williamson’s successor. 

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