Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has opened up on his strained relationship with Ross Taylor after the ODI World Cup in 2011.
Since Daniel Vettori hung up his boots, the post of captaincy was up for grabs for both Taylor and McCullum. However, after a public election, Taylor edged past Baz for the coveted position in New Zealand cricket.
According to McCullum, the public election was not the way to go for Black Caps, with both their icons playing in the same team.
The two Black Caps talisman enjoyed a cordial relationship since the initial stages of their careers. McCullum claimed that it was the captaincy issue which affected his relationship with Black Caps number 4 batsman.
“That’s exactly what it was, shocking. And it 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 U19 team, and Taylor was my vice-captain. We’ve always got on really well,” McCullum revealed in a podcast series called ‘Captain’s Log.’
Further, Taylor struggled as captain through the entirety of 2012. As a result, McCullum took over the captaincy in 2013 and enjoyed a good stint. He was the only New Zealand captain until then to take his side to the finals of the world cup in 2015.
McCullum disclosed that Taylor was offered a split captaincy role but the latter rejected. The former swashbuckling opening batsman tagged the situation with Taylor as a stain in New Zealand Cricket.
“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 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'”, added McCullum.
“It’s a bad stain for New Zealand cricket and put pressure on Ross and me. Then it led me to take over the captaincy from Ross eventually,” concluded Baz.
