Spin bowler Mitchell Santner was named New Zealand captain for both white ball formats Wednesday, filling a six-month vacancy since teammate Kane Williamson stood down.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Santner, who has played 107 one-day internationals and 106 Twenty20 internationals, will begin his tenure with a three-match home ODI series against Sri Lanka from December 28.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The 32-year-old has previously led New Zealand in 28 white ball matches, some on a stand-in basis after Williamson relinquished the role following the T20 World Cup in June.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Santner described the full-time appointment as a "huge honour".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"When you're a young kid, the dream was always to play for New Zealand, but to have the opportunity to officially lead my country in two formats is special," he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"It's a new challenge and I'm excited to get stuck into the important period of white ball cricket that we have ahead of us."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
New Zealand coach Gary Stead said Santner would bring a "calm and collected" approach to leadership, with his appointment allowing Test captain Tom Latham to focus on the longer format.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Tom's doing a great job as full-time Test captain since taking over in October, and we're keen to allow him to focus on that job which requires a considerable amount of time and energy," Stead said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Santner's appointment comes a day after he was named player-of-the-match in New Zealand's 423-run win over England in the third Test in Hamilton.<\/p>\r\n\r\n