David Leggat: Good start would leave 27th captain sitting pretty

Ross Taylor. Photo / Getty Images

If Ross Taylor could write his ideal script for the next year it would go something like this:

Belt Zimbabwe away in October; draw, or better, in the two-test series against Australia at the start of December; wallop the Zimbabweans in the return series in the New Year, then grab a South African scalp or two late next summer.

Oh yes, and bag a pile of runs along the way.

Thus the twin pillars of team success and high-class personal performance would leave him sitting pretty as New Zealand's 27th test skipper.

Captaincy is not a popularity contest. Earning, and retaining, respect is more important.

Steve Waugh, as Australian skipper, or Roy Keane when running the cutter at Manchester United, did not operate by being liberal with warm, fuzzy hugs.

They were tough, didn't suffer fools, and set and expected high standards. Their contribution and authority was never in doubt.

And it's not about flapping arms and barking orders, either. Taylor is an undemonstrative type. He admitted yesterday he prefers a quiet word in an ear than a general bellow. That's fine.

The leadup to yesterday's announcement had pitted the choices as between Taylor's understated manner contrasted with McCullum's perceived up and at 'em approach; the lowkey operator against the gunslinger.

Those images are probably a shade unfair to both men. McCullum was upset by yesterday's decision. He badly wanted his chance.

New Zealand's players were invited to give their thoughts on the captaincy over the past few days as part of their performance review.

One of the panel, Mark Greatbatch, insisted it was not a "put a tick beside your candidate" scenario, more about giving broader thoughts on leadership. Asking players to vote for their preferred man would be well out of order.

Certainly Taylor and McCullum are different personalities.

In media terms, Taylor is not a natural; McCullum is more at ease in front of a microphone. Since when has that been top priority in the job?

NZC has gone for the person occupying the No 2 chair at the right time. McCullum sat in it until being pushed off it in 2009, a move he found hard to accept then and which still grates.

But suggestions he will now wander off the reservation to become some sort of buccaneering globetrotter are also nonsense.

Taylor is fortunate his first crack in the job on his terms is in Zimbabwe. Then again, if it goes pear-shaped under the African sun, with the Aussies to follow, he may be on the back foot sooner than he'd like.