Players give input on NZ captain

New Zealand's top 20 cricketers have been asked for their views on the leadership capabilities of Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor, as well as the culture within the national side, as part of their end-of-season reviews. The interviews are taking place at the same time as New Zealand Cricket considers whether to appoint Taylor or McCullum as the team's next captain.

John Buchanan, New Zealand's director of cricket, confirmed on Saturday that the subject of captaincy had been broached with the players, but said there was no question of the players picking the man for the job. Buchanan, national selection manager Mark Greatbatch and coach John Wright are all currently interviewing players.

"One of the areas they needed to comment on was leadership," Buchanan told the Sunday Star-Times, "the culture of leadership and what their views and thoughts are of it within and around the Black Caps. We asked their views and thoughts on the captains they have played under - either Ross and/or Brendon. We wanted them to express their views on that.

"We listened to what they had to say and that's really the process of the reviews at the moment."

Buchanan said it was not the intention of the reviews to find out if the players preferred a particular captain. "I'm sure it's probably been interpreted that way but I don't think that's specifically been asked. It's a broad topic of leadership and, when it comes to captaincy, they are the frontrunners and the players have been asked to provide a view on them as individuals and what they bring to the captaincy role.

"We are not necessarily canvassing them on a voting process... we really just want a viewpoint."