Ross Taylor hardly communicated with teammates as New Zealand captain, reveals Brendon McCullum

Wellington: Former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum has revealed that his compatriot Ross Taylor did not communicate or share his thoughts during team meetings, when the latter was captain of the Black Caps.

In his book Declared, McCullum has devoted a whole chapter elaborating the tiff between him and Taylor.

He also threw insights on Taylor’s captaincy and the circumstances that led to the souring of their relationship.

The 35-year-old also clarified that he had no role to play in the axing of Taylor as captain.

“At these meetings, Mike (head coach Mike Hesson) would canvass everyone’s thoughts, and then try to hand it back to Ross to synthesise what was out there, tell us the way he wanted to go forward, put his stamp on it.

“All Ross had to say was, ‘Thanks lads, that’s awesome and this is the direction we are going based on your thoughts. I’m the skipper, this is what we’re doing and I need you all to buy into it,” McCullum wrote in his book, as reported by ESPNcricinfo.

“Ross would say nothing. Not a word. What the hell was he thinking? I had no idea. Ross is a reasonably trusting guy in most circumstances, so someone must have been telling him to watch his back. Whatever, he put the shutters up against Hesson.”

“A quiet guy at the best of times, going further into his shell didn’t help – he’d surface with angry outbursts, instead of a coherent plan,” he added.

Taylor led New Zealand to their first Test victory over Sri Lanka in December 2012, but stepped down from the post and opted out of the tour to South Africa, before McCullum was appointed his successor.

McCullum, in his book, also indirectly criticised the public selection process for choosing Daniel Vettori’s successor, which he felt could have been one of the reasons behind his strained relationship with Taylor.