Hesson: Williamson Made Captain Keeping WC 2015 In Mind

The second Twenty20 encounter between West Indies and New Zealand on Sunday saw batsman Kane Williamson being assigned the captaincy instead of regular skipper Brendon McCullum. Explaining the move, New Zealand coach Mike Hesson said the change in captaincy was made keeping the World Cup 2015 in mind.

"Look, it's something that, if we get to the World Cup and we have an incident, we need to make sure Kane's up to speed," Hesson told reporters. "Today was an opportunity for us, in a slightly lesser pressure situation, to give him that opportunity and we still put a decent side out on the park instead of playing without Brendon. It's a good experience for him. It's one of those areas that we need to ensure we've got covered come World Cup time."

Williamson, whose first stint as captain also came against the West Indies in 2012, did not quite get the result his side was looking for after the Black Caps fell short by 39 runs as West Indies went on to level the series 1-1. Williamson and Hesson said the team misread the conditions and that although New Zealand won the Test series, they would have wanted to end the tour on a winning note.

"We weren't sharp with the ball in the middle overs," he said. "I don't think we assessed the conditions quite as well as we could have, whereas yesterday we were outstanding in that area. With the bat, it's key for one of our top order to go on and make a big score. The fact that the wicket got slower and turned and bounced a bit, we needed a guy who was set. That we kept losing wickets throughout made it more difficult for us."

"You don't want to finish on a loss, but overall, it's been a great tour for us," Hesson said. "We came over here a couple of years ago and got turned over. The fact that we won a Test series away from home was a big achievement for us and to be fair, disappointed with today but 1-1 in a T20 series, we certainly showed some good skills and players stood up, so overall really pleased."