The Kiwis had a horrific run in the T20 World Cup 2024, where they failed to qualify for the Super 8 stage. After a disappointing T20 World Cup campaign, Kane Williamson, Lockie Ferguson, and Adam Milne declined New Zealand Cricket’s (NZC) central contracts. Former New Zealand captain decided to opt for a flexible contract instead. Tom Latham, who has a proven leadership experience, has shared his views on players giving more importance to franchise T20 leagues than international cricket.
“I think at the moment, where cricket's going in New Zealand is slightly different. It's certainly not a black-and-white situation, and it's certainly changing with all these leagues popping up. I guess everyone is in a slightly different boat in terms of what their future may look like depending on their age or stage in life” said the 32-year-old was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
While Latham did not criticise Williamson directly, he said that flexible contracts is something the board will have to be vary of considering the growing number of T20 leagues around the world.
"I don't know what the right system is; there is a lot of flexibility within our contracts at the moment, but I think with the changing landscape of cricket, I'm sure it will be something that New Zealand Cricket and the players association look at and try to come up with something," he added.
Latham wants to be captain
Tom Latham has had a decent record the stand-in captain of New Zealand, having led the Kiwis in a total of 66 games across all formats. Latham, who has been a deputy to Kane for a long time threw his hat for a permanent leadership role, "We've seen over many years now; at times we haven't had those senior guys. That gives me an opportunity as a senior player to step up and lead as well. But there are also other guys who haven't necessarily had opportunities in the past to step up in different leadership roles. It's never great when you miss guys of Kane's calibre, but it gives opportunities to other guys to put their best foot forward.”
Latham not confirmed as captain
However, Latham is not the automatic choice for the captain but certainly one of the options in the ODIs.
"We're not at the stage of confirming it yet, so I don't want to speculate whether Tom will be or not," New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said. "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 [ODI] World Cup. That will be one of the important decision-making factors that we discuss."
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