New Zealand have made a captaincy change on the eve of the first Test against Zimbabwe.
New Zealand Test captain Tom Latham has been ruled out of the first Test against Zimbabwe due to a shoulder injury, and Mitchell Santner will lead the Kiwis in his absence.
The first Test between Zimbabwe and New Zealand will begin from Wednesday (July 30) and will take place in Bulawayo. The 33-year-old sustained the injury while fielding for Birmingham Bears during a match of Vitality T20 Blast earlier in July.
Latham will remain with the Black Caps squad with the hope of regaining fitness in time for the second Test against Zimbabwe that gets underway on August 7. Santner, the New Zealand limited-overs skipper, recently led his team to a T20I tri-series title win, beating South Africa in the final.
Hosts Zimbabwe were the third team in the competition. Rob Walter, the New Zealand head coach, said that his team will miss Latham’s experience in the first Test.
“It’s hugely disappointing for Tom to be missing the first Test, as captain but also as an integral part of the team,” he said. “It’s never great when you lose your captain, who’s a world-class opening batter and a great team man, but that said we’re going to work really hard to have him available for the second Test.
“We’ll continue to assess and see whether a replacement player is necessary, but at this stage we are hopeful that he’ll recover in time,” he added.
The 49-year-old hoped that Santner would produce a positive outcome in the first Test against Zimbabwe. “Whilst the format is different, he certainly has the respect of the players and will be supported by some highly experienced Test cricketers, so I trust that he’s going to do a great job,” he said.
In IPL 2025, Mitchell Santner played for Mumbai Indians (MI) after the franchise picked him for INR 2 crores at the IPL 2025 mega auction last year.
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The bowling all-rounder played 13 matches for the Hardik Pandya-led side in IPL 2025 and took 10 wickets at an average of 31.30. Mumbai Indians were knocked out in Qualifier 2 after they lost to Punjab Kings (PBKS), who would eventually end the tournament as runners-up.
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