'Drive forward to further success': Mitchell Santner takes over Black Caps white-ball captaincy

New Zealand bowler Mitchell Santner has been named to takeover the captaincy of the Black Caps white-ball teams after Kane Williamson stepped down from the role.

Williamson announced he would be relinquishing the captaincy following the side's T20 World Cup campaign earlier this year.

Santner will begin his official duties as captain of both the ODI and T20I teams when the Kiwis face Sri Lanka in late December.

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The 32-year-old has represented the Black Caps in 243 international matches, having also lead the team in 24 T20Is and four ODIs.

His first major event as captain will be in the Champions Trophy in February before his focus shifts to preparations for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

"It's obviously a huge honour and a privilege to be asked," Santner said.

"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.

"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. There's obviously a little bit of a changing of the guard with some of our experienced players at the back end of their careers.

"I think that's exciting for the remainder of the group and the young players to now take on the challenge and drive this team forward to further success."

A first-choice selection across both white-ball formats, coach Gary Stead confirmed Santner was a leading contender to take over the captaincy.

Stead revealed selectors were wary of increasing the workload of New Zealand Test captain Tom Latham and preferred the star stay focused on the five-day format.

"In Tom Latham, we have an accomplished and experienced captain who has led the side admirably across all three formats," the Kiwis coach said.

"Tom's doing a great job as the 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.

"Mitch is a fantastic team man and leads by example in all facets of the game.

"He's incredibly calm and collected personality and he has a huge amount of respect in the changing room, which will serve him well.

"He's had plenty of experience leading the T20 side and did a good job when he captained the ODI team last month.

"I'm sure Mitch will also bring his own ideas and style of leadership to the role."