Kane Williamson best No. 3 in the world, says Craig McMillan
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New Zealand batting coach Craig McMillan has called his countryman and skipper Kane Williamson the best at the number 3 spot. McMillan also criticized Tom Latham's poor form stating that the 24-year-old needed to make better decisions in the ongoing South Africa series.
McMillan, who played almost 200 ODIs for New Zealand, said that the skipper Kane Williamson stating that his performances at the number 3 bring strength to the Kiwi batting line-up.
"I think he's the best No. 3 in the world," McMillan told ESPNcricinfo.com.
"The reality is when you bat at No. 3 you can be an opener, new-ball bowlers are fresh in difficult conditions. Kane is very mentally strong around that, it's a position he enjoys so I don't see any point at all in tweaking that."
Craig Macmillan's praise for the Kiwi skipper is completely justified as well since Williamson averages 53.65 runs at the Number 3 spot since 2011. Overall, he ranks 9th in the most-prolific No. 3 all-time list.
The batting coach was speaking after New Zealand suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of South Africa in the ongoing series. The team was defeated in a mere 3 days losing by 8 wickets. Kane Williamson was unable to perform to the best of his abilities scoring just 3 runs in both the innings combined. However, it was Tom Latham who bore the coach's brunt for scoring just 24 runs in the series so far. McMillan said that the opener needed to focus on the basics to get out of the slump adding that he needed to make better decisions while batting.
"Tom's obviously going through a tough patch but we know what a quality player he is, and has been for many years," Macmillan stated.
"It's about him getting back to basics. One of his decisions was poor, to drive when it wasn't full enough to drive, and he acknowledged that. We need to get him back to making those good decisions and everything else will flow from there."
The team will go up against South Africa in the 3rd and final Test of the series on Saturday in Hamilton.
