Blessed with grace, poise and a technique that has had some of the greats of the game admire his strokes in awe, Kane Williamson has quickly risen up the ranks and lived up to the early promise he showed on the big stage while scoring a century on Test debut against India in Ahmedabad in 2010.While his Test exploits have been on the rise, his ODI stocks have skyrocketed.
The first signs of his coming of age as an ODI batsman came in February 2014 when he made five successive fifties at home in a successful series against India.
Williamson was anointed a future leader and batting mainstay as early as 2008, when he led New Zealand at the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia. Although he didn’t have a great tournament – 124 runs in five innings with a highest of 31 – his captaincy came in for praise even as New Zealand went on to eventually lose to the Virat Kohli-led Indian side who lifted the cup.
Think about Williamson and there appears a picture of calm. Nothing exemplifies this more than his heroics against Australia during the league stages of the 2015 World Cup.
New Zealand were nine down in a modest chase despite controlling most parts of the game. With six runs needed against a rampaging Mitchell Starc, who broke the home team’s back in a fiery spell, Australia appeared to have had to the edge. As wickets fell around him, Williamson appeared to be in a zone of his own, almost as if the pressure of the expectant home crowd and the situation didn’t matter.
What he did next was straight out of the fantasy books – a sashay down the pitch and a nonchalant swing that sent the ball soaring over the ropes to give New Zealand a thrilling one-wicket victory. His reaction was typical of the man – nothing flashy, no over-the-top high fives, words or messages. Instead, he chose to soak in the applause of his home crowd before sinking into his partner’s arms.
