Definitely The Toughest Time Of My Coaching Career: Mike Hesson Reveals In Detail The Fallout During His Tenure As New Zealand Coach

Former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson oversaw one of the most successful periods of the national cricket team from 2012 to 2018. Not only did the Kiwis began doing well and began upsetting stalwarts in ICC tournaments, but they also got competitive in Test cricket. Nevertheless, there was a time during Mike Hesson’s tenure, which he describes as a forgettable one.

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It was in 2012 when veteran batsman Ross Taylor was stripped off his captaincy position and asked to hand it over to Brendon McCullum. While Mike Hesson does not regret the decision, he indeed expresses remorse over how the incidents unfolded. Under McCullum, the Black Caps made it to their first World Cup final in 2015.

Hesson revealed that he stayed awake at night, contemplating whether he is making the decisions for the better. The 45-year old mentioned that it was not a nice time to be a part of and regrets the fallout along with how people felt about it. However, considering the progress McCullum made it, Hesson does not regret the decision.

“It was definitely the toughest time of my coaching career. keep going back to the reasons why I coach and many times I ask myself at night – am I making the decision for the right reasons …. because I think it’s going to make the team better? It was a really untidy time. But I don’t regret the decision, (though) I certainly regret the fallout from it and the way people felt throughout it,” Hesson said as quoted by Stuff.co.nz.

It was what I felt we needed to do to move the team forward: Mike Hesson

Hesson, who is associated with the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise, expresses full empathy with Ross Taylor with whatever he went through. Furthermore, some people were snakey in the environment.

“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,” Mike Hesson concluded.

The Dunedin-born admitted that people, who did not know them, did not know the stories inside out, were expressing undue opinions about them. Mike Hesson underlined that he did what the team needed to move forward and make progress.

“There were a number of people who didn’t know many facts, who didn’t know either Ross or myself, who were very opinionated about things … It was what I felt we needed to do to move the team forward,” he added.

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