Why New Zealand aren’t ready to unshackle Kane Williamson from T20I duties
If you come across a Twitter account named ‘NotNossy’ you might think it’s Kane Williamson, until you find the blue tick missing. Or you actually look at the content, which makes it seem like it’s Jimmy Neesham’s. Yes, Kane is not on Twitter and we know enough about him to asses that.
But do we know enough about his team?
Rewind to the Baz era of New Zealand cricket shows us how little we knew about Kane Williamson then. A hundred on Test debut, the youngest New Zealand batsman to 3000 Test runs, quickest among Kiwis to reach 3000 ODI runs, Kane was always certainly going to be the best batsman that the country has ever produced. But the amount of wonders that Brendon McCullum did for New Zealand, nobody thought anyone could fit into his shoes easily. Moreover, Kane’s batting could’ve been affected by the new responsibility. And he was just 25 then. But how smooth his transition from player to captain was, while maintaining his batting form, speaks a lot about Kane’s natural leadership, something that New Zealand will need in the forthcoming World T20 tournament in Australia.
But Kane won’t be featuring in the upcoming five T20I games against England at home, starting November 1, due to a hip injury. Earlier, in August, he missed out on the T20I series in Sri Lanka. Taking up the captaincy responsibilities, Tim Southee did take New Zealand to a 2-1 victory. Does that mean New Zealand are ready to free him off the duties of the shortest format?
Not yet.
Just a little more than one year into his captaincy, Kane had to lead his team in the World T20 2016 on a rather difficult territory. Everyone remembers the Nagpur game, however forgettable it is for Indian fans, as one of Williamson’s best illustrations as a captain. In a match where India were sheer favourites, Williamson fielded without his best bowlers- Trent Boult and Tim Southee. New Zealand went on to crush the home team with a 47-run defeat. That was the day he came out of the shadows of Baz and was recognized not just as an exceptional batsman but a brilliant captain too. The most special aspect of that was Williamson did it in a format he didn’t master as much as he did in the others.
So we may think. Kane Williamson is not a specialist T20I batsman just because of his own personal masterclass in Tests and ODIs. While his numbers are exceptional in the longer formats, it makes his T20I aggregate look rather bleak. But does it speak much about his importance in the batting lineup and his captaincy? Well, no one can question that. That’s when knowing his team well comes into the picture. Coming back to his numbers in T20Is, 1505 runs averaging 31 and striking at 121.8, they look ordinary but so do AB de Villiers’ 1672 runs at 26.1 and strike rate of 135. They have nine and ten T20I fifties, respectively. But it always comes down to the reputation of being a hard hitter or not. However, when it comes to New Zealand cricket, he sits at the top of everything.
And the aspect of him that has made this possible is his adaptive nature. Like we have seen in this year’s 50-over World Cup how he literally opened the batting, while batting at No.3, in almost every single game. In those 9 innings, he amassed 578 runs averaging 82.57. It points out how he can come back into the setup, despite missing these recent games and take it from thereon.
Now it comes down to whether there’s someone in his team to replace him. But before that, the question should be whether he needs any replacement at all. If we look at the year 2018, across 365 days New Zealand played 13 ODIs, an equal number of T20Is and just seven Test matches. On the other hand, the Indian cricket team - that also has one captain across all formats - featured in 20 ODIs, 19 T20Is and 14 Test matches.
To put it simply, Williamson is not burdened with captaincy since New Zealand don’t play enough matches across a year. Hence, he has never even complained about his workload. In fact, he has asked for more Test cricket in the country. If and when that happens, only then maybe the board can retire Kane from T20Is.
But, yet again, who replaces him?
While Tim Southee has done good as the T20I captain in Williamson’s absence and will continue to lead in the next 5 fixtures against England, Kane’s leadership is irreplaceable when it comes to major tournaments. Moreover, Southee’s own form has been questionable for the past few years. Also, he’s two years older than the captain. So thinking of Southee as a long term replacement is not viable. Meanwhile, T20I specialists Martin Guptill and Colin Munro are struggling with their own form.
Baz had Kane, but Kane has his own years ahead.
And Baz left the team with an unfulfilled dream of a World Cup, having lost the final in 2015, a baton that his successor carried forward. Under Williamson, New Zealand has reached the semifinals of the WT20 2016 and only fell a little short of winning the 2019 World Cup in England.
While New Zealand need him invariably as the backbone of the team, the case gets stronger when it’s about the team’s inability to lift the cup despite coming close. The hunger for victory and, though not their usual body language, will be more than ever and will be most substantiated with Williamson in the team. A team that will dare to dream one more time.