Kane Williamson: Focusing on what’s in front of you is what’s important

Kane Williamson has always been hailed as an excellent all-format player but his credentials as a T20 player has come under the scrutiny of late, especially after his underwhelming performance in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The New Zealand skipper did play a good knock of 61 during the mega event but amassed only 178 runs overall at a strike rate of 116.33. He plays the role of a top-order anchor on his side, though questions have been raised about his strike rate.

At 32, workload management is also something Williamson will have to manage, with him captaining New Zealand in all three formats. 

Trent Boult, Williamson’s teammate, recently declined NZC’s central contract so that he could be selective about the formats he wants to play for his country. Williamson also has the option to go down that path but he sees the challenge of playing in all three formats as an enjoyable one.

“Yeah, I love all the formats, for different reasons, and in fact playing the three and changing between them is a challenge that is enjoyable,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo in an interview. 

“But having said that, there is a balance to strike in terms of just general volume [of cricket], and that’s important.

Everybody is a little bit challenged by that, certainly some of the players that may have done it for a long time, and you’re always looking to be clear with that direction – to stay fresh and focused on what is most important with your involvement in any team. Yeah, always looking to monitor that space as well as you can.”

Boult hasn’t been named in New Zealand’s squads after the T20 World Cup and his bowling partner Tim Southee, who is already 33 years old, doesn’t have that many years left in international cricket either. Williamson has been playing along with them since a long time. The trio have reached the finals of many ICC events, winning the World Test Championship in 2021. 

But they are already in their 30s and New Zealand will have to go through a transition soon. However, Williamson isn’t looking too far ahead and wants to deliver his best in whatever he is doing at present.

“You sort of hope that whilst you’re here, and trying to do as well as you can as a team, and with all the other individuals involved, that there’s a real effort to try and grow the game, to try and play your role to the best of your ability, to try and improve as much as you can as a player, and hopefully that sort of adds to the depth of cricket that we have,” Williamson said.

“But just focusing on what’s in front of you is what’s really important, and in years to come there’ll be transition, or there’s perhaps transition a little bit even earlier – that’s always there, that’s always happening in professional sport, and whoever the next group or crop are, they’ll I’m sure have a lot of motivation to want to get better as a team and go even further as a side as well.”

Williamson will be seen in action once again during the T20I and ODI series against India, starting with the first T20I in Wellington on November 18.