Former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson has opened up about the horrible backlash that followed his controversial decision to remove Ross Taylor from the Blackcaps captaincy in 2012, conceding he has no regrets despite the “untidy time” that immediately followed.
Hesson, who coached the Black Caps until 2018, asked Taylor to step down as skipper, nominating Brendon McCullum for the role instead. In March this year, McCullum called the fallout with Taylor a “bad stain on New Zealand cricket”, admitting that it put a strain on their long-standing friendship.
However, it wasn’t just the fractured relationship between McCullum and Taylor that emerged from the captaincy turmoil.
“I have a lot of empathy for what Ross went through and it was a really difficult time for the whole team. And we also had people within the environment being a little bit snakey around it as well in terms of trying to play both sides. I still think it was the right decision. Could it have been done better? Of course, it could have.”
