“If we get to the World Cup and we have an incident, we need to make sure Kane’s up to speed”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

New Zealand head coach Mike Hesson has announced that he decided to make batsman Kane Williamson captain during the second Twenty20 International against the West Indies in preparation for the 2015 World Cup.

Hesson noted that should anything happen to regular skipper Brendon McCullum, he wanted Williamson to be “up to speed”.

“Look, it’s something that, if we get to the World Cup and we have an incident, we need to make sure Kane’s up to speed,” Hesson said. “Today was an opportunity for us, in a slightly lesser pressure situation, to give him that opportunity and we still put a decent side out on the park instead of playing without Brendon. It’s a good experience for him. It’s one of those areas that we need to ensure we’ve got covered come World Cup time.”

Hesson blamed the bowling attack’s failure to stop leaking runs during the middle overs for New Zealand’s 39-run loss in the second Twenty20 International in Dominica.

“We weren’t sharp with the ball in the middle overs,” he said. “I don’t think we assessed the conditions quite as well as we could have, whereas yesterday we were outstanding in that area. With the bat, it’s key for one of our top order to go on and make a big score. The fact that the wicket got slower and turned and bounced a bit, we needed a guy who was set. That we kept losing wickets throughout made it more difficult for us.”

However, even though the Twenty20 series ended as a 1-1 draw, Hesson was pleased with the 2-1 win the Blackcaps pulled off in the Test series.

“You don’t want to finish on a loss, but overall, it’s been a great tour for us,” Hesson said. “We came over here a couple of years ago and got turned over. The fact that we won a Test series away from home was a big achievement for us and to be fair, disappointed with today but 1-1 in a T20 series, we certainly showed some good skills and players stood up, so overall really pleased.”