What's new

"Ross Taylor was completely uninspiring as captain" : Brendon McCullum

Aman

Test Captain
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Runs
47,061
Brendon McCullum has lifted the lid on the captaincy stoush that dominated New Zealand cricket in 2012. He said the first serious cracks appeared on a disastrous tour to the West Indies in 2012.

In his book Declared, which hit the shelves today, McCullum claims Ross Taylor, who beat him to the top job when Dan Vettori gave up the captaincy following the 2011 World Cup, was an uninspiring skipper and the team was on the point of imploding during his tenure.

McCullum said the trouble that would eventually engulf the team and drive a wedge between him and Taylor began on John Wright's last tour as national coach. The former opener had indicated he was stepping aside, largely because he couldn't form a working relationship with director of cricket John Buchanan.

McCullum recommended Australian Matthew Mott for the post and acted as his referee. He also knew his old Otago friend Mike Hesson had applied, but thought Mott presented a better opportunity to take the team forward.

Initially rested for the T20s and ODIs, McCullum was flown to the West Indies at short notice when Taylor was injured to lead the side. When he got there in time for the third he was told Kane Williamson would lead the side for the sake of continuity.

By the time the fourth ODI rolled around Taylor was fit again and McCullum's proposed captaincy never eventuated.

"Either Ross was highly resistant to my captaining the team and leant on Wrighty to change his mind, or it was just an organisational cock-up by Wrighty. The rest of the tour suggested the latter, because much of it was a shambles," McCullum writes.

McCullum was critical of Taylor's leadership on that difficult tour, saying Taylor stayed in his room when his players needed to see him, particularly with Wright's behaviour becoming "increasingly bizarre".

"If you wanted to talk to [Ross], you had to knock on his door.

"I don't think he consciously stayed in his room. I doubt he even thought about the fact that the players needed to see him... that they might need more from him. I don't think Ross had any idea what his leadership style was going to be."

Just before the first test of that tour, it was announced Hesson had got the job despite McCullum's spruiking for Mott.

Brendon McCullum has lifted the lid on the captaincy stoush that dominated New Zealand cricket in 2012. He said the first serious cracks appeared on a disastrous tour to the West Indies in 2012.

In his book Declared, which hit the shelves today, McCullum claims Ross Taylor, who beat him to the top job when Dan Vettori gave up the captaincy following the 2011 World Cup, was an uninspiring skipper and the team was on the point of imploding during his tenure.

McCullum said the trouble that would eventually engulf the team and drive a wedge between him and Taylor began on John Wright's last tour as national coach. The former opener had indicated he was stepping aside, largely because he couldn't form a working relationship with director of cricket John Buchanan.

McCullum recommended Australian Matthew Mott for the post and acted as his referee. He also knew his old Otago friend Mike Hesson had applied, but thought Mott presented a better opportunity to take the team forward.

Initially rested for the T20s and ODIs, McCullum was flown to the West Indies at short notice when Taylor was injured to lead the side. When he got there in time for the third he was told Kane Williamson would lead the side for the sake of continuity.

By the time the fourth ODI rolled around Taylor was fit again and McCullum's proposed captaincy never eventuated.

"Either Ross was highly resistant to my captaining the team and leant on Wrighty to change his mind, or it was just an organisational cock-up by Wrighty. The rest of the tour suggested the latter, because much of it was a shambles," McCullum writes.

McCullum was critical of Taylor's leadership on that difficult tour, saying Taylor stayed in his room when his players needed to see him, particularly with Wright's behaviour becoming "increasingly bizarre".

"I don't think he consciously stayed in his room. I doubt he even thought about the fact that the players needed to see him... that they might need more from him. I don't think Ross had any idea what his leadership style was going to be."

Just before the first test of that tour, it was announced Hesson had got the job despite McCullum's spruiking for Mott.

New Zealand's tour didn't improve with the news from home. They were slaughtered in the two tests by a weak West Indian side.

"By that time, the team was on the verge of imploding," McCullum writes. "Players had got to the point where they just didn't care any more. It became about self-preservation. The captain and coach were completely uninspiring."

McCullum acknowledged that Wright's failings as coach put too much pressure on his teammate but said Taylor - who he said had been an excellent vice-captain - needed to know that captaincy was about more than scoring a truckload of runs and retiring to your room.

He suspects the news that his old friend had been appointed coach probably forced Taylor more into his shell, though he still felt Hesson's structures and organisational ability could bring the best out of Taylor's leadership.

"It had to work," McCullum writes. "I believed that Ross, with the power base behind in in New Zealand Cricket and in the wider cricket community and the media, would never be sacked. He was impregnable. If results didn't imp[rove, Hesson would go, not Ross... if Hesson couldn't help Ross, [the Black Caps] were stuffed and I'd be gone too."

Captaincy saga timeline

2009: Brendon McCullum is dropped as vice-captain of the national team by coach Andy Moles.

2011: Ross Taylor is named as New Zealand captain in all three forms of the game, replacing Dan Vettori.

July 2012: Mike Hesson succeeds John Wright as national coach.

November 2012: During a tour of Sri Lanka, Hesson informs Taylor he will recommend leadership changes to NZ Cricket's board after the tour. He meant in white-ball cricket but he failed to convey that message clearly to Taylor.

December 2012: McCullum is named as the new national skipper in all three forms of the game. NZC say Taylor declined an offer to remain test captain. Amid fierce criticism of how it had handled the captaincy issue, NZC chairman Chris Moller apologises to Taylor but says no heads will roll over the affair.

March 2013: Former national captain John Parker reveals to Radio Sport that he and up to 40 other prominent past cricketers have prepared a dossier that proves Taylor was "done over" by McCullum, Hesson and NZC chief executive David White.

April 2013: McCullum says he will take legal action for defamation against Parker and others over their allegations. Parker apologises publicly and McCullum withdraws his legal action.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11732530
 
Last edited:
McCullum dropping them bombs, I'm actually really tempted to buy his new book.

Apparently he was smoking in the team toilets with two caterers in the final moments of the WC Semi against SA.

Also he knew he was done after his innings in a practice match in the tour of Aus, the Cairns trial had definitely taken a toll on him.
 
I severely dislike players who talk of current or former teammates like this, really low class in my opinion.
 
Former New Zealand captain McCullum has revealed the toll that being a witness in the 2015 perjury trial of all-rounder Cairns took on him in his newly released book “Declared”.

Cairns was acquitted of the charges, related to alleged match fixing. That finding came near the end New Zealand’s tour of Australia, during which McCullum made a decision to accelerate retirement later that summer.

He had originally planned to play at the subsequent World Twenty20 in India but found his motivation had waned considerably following a heavily scrutinised role as a witness at Southwark Crown Court in London.

“I’ve tried desperately hard to keep my head locked into the very demanding cricket right in front of me, but to be honest, it’s impossible to ignore the fallout from the trial completely, and it’s been chipping away at me like Chinese water torture right through the Australian tour,” McCullum wrote.

The explosive batsman explains exactly how he broke the stunning news of his retirement to Black Caps coach Mike Hesson, which he did after playing a wild innings during a tour match in Perth last year.

“’I’m done, mate,’ I tell him.

“Hess knows I’ve been struggling, but it seems like a sudden and emotional decision. He asks me if I’m sure I want to retire.

“It is quite sudden and emotional, but I’m sure. I had visions of playing the T20 Worlds in early 2016, then giving away the shorter-format stuff for the Black Caps and just playing Tests, but I’ve come to the end of my tether. I just know in my waters I’ve had enough.”

McCullum goes into further detail around the Cairns trial, expressing surprise he proved to be the key prosecution witness.

He lamented how the trial was portrayed in the media as a battle between himself and Cairns - a former friend and player he first regarded as a hero. He admits their relationship is now irreparably damaged, and says he hopes the two never cross paths again.

McCullum was one of three key Crown witness against Cairns, along with disgraced former cricketer Lou Vincent and Vincent’s ex-wife Eleanor Riley. McCullum expressed concern at the summation of Justice Nigel Sweeney, who instructed the jury to be sure of the evidence of at least two witnesses before they could convict Cairns.

Vincent was discredited by the defence as a confessed match-fixer while Riley’s evidence was about alleged confessions from Cairns on a drunken night out. McCullum doesn’t understand why his evidence alone couldn’t be enough to bring about a conviction.

“I simply don’t understand why the jury cannot disregard Lou and Elly’s evidence if they don’t believe it, and still reach a verdict based on whether they believe me or Cairns,” McCullum wrote.

He says he has wondered often since if he made the right decision to put himself through the stress of testifying - something he didn’t have to do.

“I was prepared to stand up, even under pressure and under fire from various quarters, and do what I thought was morally right at the time,” he wrote.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket...t/news-story/d06929771fbbec2b408183f3f093d5da
 
I severely dislike players who talk of current or former teammates like this, really low class in my opinion.
To be honest, it comes off like he's just telling how it was like.

"By that time, the team was on the verge of imploding," McCullum writes. "Players had got to the point where they just didn't care any more. It became about self-preservation. The captain and coach were completely uninspiring."

He seems like the type who's very blunt with what he says.
 
Ross isn't an inspiring batsmen either.

Crowe, Williamson and Fleming are better test batsmen than him.
 
Macca won't be remembered but Taylor can be New Zealand's best. He is having a quite tour and Macca decides to take a dig at him, very low from an overrated wannabe cricketer.
 
Poor comments. It's sad to see how low cricketers go in these books.
 
really like B-Mac

honest and open guy and always not afraid to speak the obvious and truth

Taylor was the worst captain for New Zealand
 
First Clarke and now Mcculum? The past few days have felt like Ive been living in a parallel universe where the white people are making the controversial statements. :bm
 
Will probably sell a lot of copies in New Zealand.
 
It's interesting to see him go after Taylor who is probably a soft target for Mccullum considering Taylor's a quiet guy who keeps to himself. He probably figured this was a safe target. Wonder if Taylor's half Samoan descent makes him an easier target.

Mccullum does have a history of backstabbing teammates like he did with Cairns.

I think there are better ways to sell a book than by disrespecting your former teammates.
 
The Good:
McCullum inspires teammates to give their all on the field. He is a little crazy (fielding).
The Bad:
He tries to show up the opponents when the opportunity arrives (on the field).
The Ugly:
Speaking of others outside the field. Specially teammates and officials.
 
To be honest, it comes off like he's just telling how it was like.

"By that time, the team was on the verge of imploding," McCullum writes. "Players had got to the point where they just didn't care any more. It became about self-preservation. The captain and coach were completely uninspiring."

He seems like the type who's very blunt with what he says.

Doesn't matter if it is the truth or not.

What does it matter if he was the best or worst captain ever?

It's pretty classless to talk ill of your current or former teammates.

You could have the worst teammate ever, but what happens in the locker room or dressing room should stay there, that's true leadership. Players would probably be pretty weary in talking freely in that environment. If someone criticized Brandon Mac now, do you think he would think it's okay?

That's a pretty awful teammate.
 
Again, good to see non-Asian cricketers ridiculing themselves and their colleagues.

Lessens shame we, the Pakistani fans, feel for antiques of our cricketers :afridi

Carry on fellas :yk
 
Dissapointed, didn't expect B-Mac to stab his team mates in the back to make a quick buck. Even worse when you look at how he shared a dressing room with Ross not so long ago, only low class human beings air private stuff in public.
 
Being the classy batsman he was it was saddening to see Brendan retire from one day Cricket. Such comments are not required by someone of his class and ability. Every captain leads the team differently, as we have seen Imran Khan was totally a different leader to Inzamam or Misbah ul Haq. Not a fan of back stabbers, If Brendan can speak poorly about his ex captain he will do so off other people as well.
 
My main memory of Ross Taylor is that he brutally ended Shoaib Akhtar's career for good.
 
Macca won't be remembered but Taylor can be New Zealand's best. He is having a quite tour and Macca decides to take a dig at him, very low from an overrated wannabe cricketer.

Quite a tour? LOL, in 8 innings on the India tour, he's had 3 ducks so far and not a single score of 50, not even in the practice games!
 
My main memory of Ross Taylor is that he brutally ended Shoaib Akhtar's career for good.

I think Akhtar got him on the second delivery he faced, but was dropped by Kami Akmal. He was dropped for the second time of Akhtars bowling before even reaching 50. Anyway, Akhtar would have retired anyway after that match but I don't really rate that innings too highly because he was given a million lives.
 
Surprised at the reaction on here.

Here in the west, people slaughter other folks in their autobiographies all the time :))

KP's book didn't spare anyone IIRC.
 
Surprised at the reaction on here.

Here in the west, people slaughter other folks in their autobiographies all the time :))

KP's book didn't spare anyone IIRC.

I don't think that's the reason for their surprise, it's more to do with assuming B-Mac to be this decent guy whom he portrayed but then he'd stoop to this level where he's airing private stuff in public.
 
Surprised at the reaction on here.

Here in the west, people slaughter other folks in their autobiographies all the time :))

KP's book didn't spare anyone IIRC.
Yeah, this is far from a burial.

Seems like he's being honest about what was happening at that time rather than sugar coating it or truly digging the knife in.

Not being an inspiring leader is hardly a classless insult.. how many captains today other than Misbah are inspiring leaders?
 
Last edited:
Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum on Friday opened up on fallout with teammate Ross Taylor. Speaking in an interview on Sky Sports Podcast, the Kolkata Knight Riders cocah recalled that New Zealand’s Cricket decision to implement a public process to elect New Zealand’s new captain after Daniel Vettori retired, in which Taylor pipped him to get the job, created tensions between the two cricketers.

“That’s exactly what it was, shocking. And it put 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,” the former wicketkeeper-batsman said.

“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’”, he added. “It’s a bad stain for New Zealand cricket and put pressure on Ross and me. Then it led me to eventually take over the captaincy from Ross.”

Ross was appointed the captain in 2011 but he did not get along well with the then coach, Mike Hesson. After a Test series in Sri Lanka, which ended in a 1-1 draw, Taylor was removed as New Zealand’s captain, with McCullum getting the job. The former Kiwi star said that Taylor was asked if he would prefer a split-captaincy option with McCullum, but he had refused.

“I was asked if I wanted to take over the role of New Zealand captain in all three formats. So initially, I told them I would get back to them. I needed to think long and hard thought it. I knew it would be a major controversial decision. I knew it could have major ramifications on NZ Cricket, but also on my time as a player. I sat down with my wife, and said ‘you are the best equipped to do it, if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, but you’re the best equipped to do it’. So I gave them a call, and said I would do it,” McCullum said.

“Ross had turned down the Test captaincy role. I don’t know what happened the time. There was a lot of controversy. New Zealand Cricket has moved on from that time now,” he said.

Speaking on his relations with Taylor now, McCullum added: “We are not best friends. I have immense amount of respect for him. He has lovely family, had a great career. He is at peace and content in his personal life. He has done really really well.”

On being questioned about the Sri Lanka tour which led to the changing of the guard, McCullum said: “We played game differently. It was also noticeable that there was a bit of a divide between how Ross would want to play the game, and how Mike Hesson would like to coach the game. They were not getting on that well. I was having a pretty average tour with the bat. I was trying to lend a support to the leadership role.”

McCullum was known to be in good terms with coach Hesson and there were lot of media reports surfacing at the time that the Kiwi keeper is trying to stay close to Hesson to try and lobby for the captaincy position. Addressing the same, McCullum said: “If you follow the reports, it was reported that I was lobbying to Mike for Ross’ position. I was very mindful of the fact that there is a process to go through. But I also knew that if this relation breaks down, then Mike may want me.”

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cric...ross-taylor/story-qwFQ8Mell8mmDX9mrguQwK.html
 
midget macca was always an overrated player.
Home bully at best. Even then he was given several lives to get to his tons. ross Taylor is a better player by miles and a better human.
 
At the end of the day, McCullum was one of the greatest captains New Zealand ever had who completely changed them from the mediocre, underachieving side under Vettori to the New Zealand side we know and love today. So you could say things worked out for the best. Taylor was never captaincy material and deep-down he probably knew that aswell.
 
NZ cricket owes B-Mac for helping them become the success they were during this decade.

Taylor may be the best bat NZ ever produced but he has the leadership ability of a forest ranger.
 
Surprised at the reaction on here.

Here in the west, people slaughter other folks in their autobiographies all the time :))

KP's book didn't spare anyone IIRC.

Precisely.

Asians need to toughen up.
 
midget macca was always an overrated player.
Home bully at best. Even then he was given several lives to get to his tons. ross Taylor is a better player by miles and a better human.

Brendon McCullum basically led the revolution of NZ cricket to bring it where it is now. NZ was a below average team in the 2000s and early 2010s, B Mac took us to a top team with his aggressive captaincy.
 
Brendon McCullum basically led the revolution of NZ cricket to bring it where it is now. NZ was a below average team in the 2000s and early 2010s, B Mac took us to a top team with his aggressive captaincy.

Kane is n.z's best ever captain. Probably best captain in the world right now.
 
Quite poor from Brendon. He shouldn't badmouth teammates like this. If he has an issue, he should privately talk about it.
 
Man, this guy loves the attention... why is he bringing up all this stuff again now? The gutts of this guy, especially since he basically back stabbed Ross Taylor, who is a much better cricketer and human being than him, and despite that, appears to have no shame whatsoever. There are two sides to every story, and McCullum knows that Taylor has too much class to air his dirty laundry in public. Big Mac is over-rated, selfish and disloyal
 
Mccullams true calibre was revealed by his stints with Lahore Qalandars. It's funny that the franchise played its best cricket without him.

What did the great captain Mccullam ever achieve for NZ outside his scandolously small sized NZ grounds?

Mccullam also failed to report an alleged offer to fix by Chris Cairns which he was unable to prove in court
 
NZ cricket owes B-Mac for helping them become the success they were during this decade.

Taylor may be the best bat NZ ever produced but he has the leadership ability of a forest ranger.

So basically these are Ganguly and Tendulkar of NZ?
 
Mccullams true calibre was revealed by his stints with Lahore Qalandars. It's funny that the franchise played its best cricket without him.

What did the great captain Mccullam ever achieve for NZ outside his scandolously small sized NZ grounds?

Mccullam also failed to report an alleged offer to fix by Chris Cairns which he was unable to prove in court

Apart from Eden park, name a scandolously small sized NZ ground.
 
Man this is a beef that shouldn't even exist, both guys have contributed so much to the game and Mac was obviously the better captain. I still remember how good he was against England and how Cook started to adapt BECAUSE of him....that is the sign of a brilliant captain.
 
Don't understand why Mccullum has continually brought up issues with Taylor.

He may have not been a great captain but there is no need to stick the knife in. Taylor has been an excellent batter for NZ and carried himself well despite his issues.
 
Back
Top