Wellington, Feb 12 (IANS) Australia's hard-hitting batsman David Warner believes New Zealand will have a tough time in finding someone who can fill in Brendon McCullum's shoes who retired from One-Day Internationals (ODIs).

“He’s going to leave a big hole experience-wise in that team. You look at the greats like Stephen Fleming and Daniel Vettori when they left, what key roles they had in the game - they played massive roles for New Zealand,” Warner was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz on Friday.

“You’re going to see that role get taken away from them again and I think not just from a batting but a leadership point of view. I think whoever takes over there is definitely going to have big shoes to fill.”

Warner said since taking over as captain, McCullum had done a fantastic job with the team.

“I think since he’s taken over as captain he’s done a fantastic job so far in getting New Zealand cricket to play the way that he wants New Zealand to be perceived as and that’s a great thing for their sport,” he said.

The 29-year-old added that he has a lot of respect for McCullum and believes the next New Zealand skipper would do a great job too.

“I’m sure whoever does take that responsibility (Kane Williamson) will do a great job. But as a person and a character (McCullum) is one guy I do have the utmost respect for,” he said.

“He’s always a gentleman and always has been. He’s a great person to sit down and have a beer with,” added Warner.

“Cricket is losing a true gentleman from the sport.”