Wellington, Dec 4 : New Zealand coach Mike Hesson had asked Ross Taylor to relinquish captaincy before last month''s two-test series in Sri Lanka.

According to reports in New Zealand, Hesson made the extraordinary request before the team''s 10-wicket defeat in Galle, however, Taylor refused.

Hesson''s diminishing faith, and a lack of support from senior players, is expected to see Brendon McCullum take over Taylor as skipper by the end of this week, for the upcoming tour of South Africa.

That''s despite Taylor''s man-of-the-match performance in leading New Zealand to a 167-run win to level the series in Colombo last week.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive David White did little to suppress the widespread speculation about a captaincy change from Dubai last night, where he''s attending an International Cricket Council meeting.

"No decisions have been made. We''re still half way through a full review of all aspects of the [Sri Lanka] tour and once we complete that review then we''ll provide information," Stuff. co. nz quoted White, as saying.

The NZC board, which rubber-stamps any captaincy change, was involved in the review, White said.

When asked about Hesson offering Taylor the chance to step down, White said: "That''s speculation and I''m not prepared to talk about speculation." (ANI)