Kane Williamson played a typically straight bat to questions around Neil Wagner's retirement saying 'nobody is forced to retire' after former team-mate Ross Taylor suggested all was not well within the New Zealand camp.
Responding to a question on ESPN's television show Around The Wicket about Wagner's finger-on-the-mouth celebration after dismissing Zubayr Hamza in his final Test appearance, against South Africa in Hamilton, and a visual of him showing someone the middle finger as the team got in a huddle to celebrate another wicket, Taylor said, "I think it all makes sense a little bit now. There's no sugarcoating it: I think it's a forced retirement. If you listen to Wagner's press conference, he was retiring, but it was after this last Test match [against Australia]. So he did make himself available."
Williamson was asked about Taylor's comments during a press conference at Hagley Oval on Wednesday just two days out from the second Test against Australia, where he and Tim Southee will celebrate their 100th Tests together.
Williamson believes that Wagner had not been forced into retirement and said the team gave him a great send-off last week in Wellington.
"I don't think anybody is forced to retire," Williamson said. "I think last week, he had a fantastic week and it was reflecting on what was an incredible career.
"We had some amazing moments in the dressing room. It didn't go perfectly. Obviously, an on-field performance would have helped but it was so much more than that. He's just done such incredible things for this team. And we've seen the skill that he has and the numbers that everybody sees but the heart and soul and effort that he's brought to the side and largely led through that for so long has been incredible. It was quite a special week for that reason and I think he had a really amazing time sharing that with the side."
Williamson also added some context to Wagner's finger-on-the-mouth celebration on the mouth celebration, suggesting it had come as a result of some banter between Southee and Wagner about his fielding.
"Those guys are great mates and have been and will continue to be," Williamson said. "That was banter in the dressing room with Waggy and his fielding so he ended up putting him down at fine leg. So to get a catch was quite amusing. So Waggy took his opportunity. I think he thinks that obviously out of context [and] it doesn't look great, but it was a little bit humorous at the time and all the players understood the context."
Williamson said the environment within the Black Caps team was good despite the external noise.
"Yeah, quite good," Williamson said. "Something that we're always trying to improve and evolve as a team. And it's something we've tried to do for years. You always have different transitions and players come and go, support staff come and go.
"[Taylor] might know more than me, I'm not sure. But I see guys that are giving everything, trying to get better as a team, trying to move the team forward and that's really a focus for us."
Former New Zealand captain Ross Taylor believes that alarm bells shouldn't be ringing about Tim Southee's form just yet, but it might not be too long before they are.
Taylor was also critical of Southee's dismissal in the fourth innings in Wellington when he holed out to long-on off Nathan Lyon as New Zealand slumped to a heavy defeat.
"When you're a batter, we all play poor shots, but when you're captain I think it just sends a bad message, and the optics of it I think don't look good," Taylor said. "He does get a lot of runs for us playing an attacking brand. He loves hitting sixes. He and Brendon [McCullum] have a bit of banter about whether he can ever catch him. But when you're captain you have to look your team in the eye. We didn't bat very well as a team, when you play a shot like that, it's hard to look the team in the eye and tell them off."
Williamson was unfazed by the comments saying that the Black Caps were focussing on themselves.
"Lots of people come out and say different things and as a team, we try and focus on what's important and that's our team and our environment and what we're trying to do and give our energy to that," Williamson said.