Kane Williamson: The anchor that is sinking the Kiwi ship

Anchors. Heavy metal devices used to secure ships on shores, enabling them to battle the winds and rains without getting stranded out in the cold all on their own. And when the right time arrives, they let loose and push the vessel towards its destination, providing resilience and comfort against the fear of the unknown.

This conversation around anchors in T20 cricket has hogged the spotlight in recent times, largely because of the inability to quantify the impact the role has on a team. One thing seems to be clear though - just like a ship can't function without an anchor, a team cannot attain glory without a batsman capable of playing the increasingly-vilified role. No team has ever won a World T20 without an anchor in its lineup – be it Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara steadying the ship for Sri Lanka in 2014 or Steven Smith and Aaron Finch providing comfort up top for the Kangaroos in 2021. Even the all-destructive gung-ho cricket-loving West Indies relied on Marlon Samuels to guide them to the title in 2016. 

Williamson has never had great numbers throughout his T20I career. While his career average of 32.73 makes one sit up and take notice, his strike rate of 123.46 makes the same person sink ever deeper into the same seat. Nevertheless, such returns were considered good around the time the Kiwi made his debut a decade ago but even though the game has evolved significantly since, the batter’s statistics have failed to catch up with the trend. Anchors are no longer limited to just biding their time at the crease and hoping the batter at the other end deals all the damage. They now also carry the onus of accelerating themselves when the innings approaches the death.

In comparison, Virat Kohli and Mohammad Rizwan average comfortably over 40 in the death in the first innings while hitting runs at a strike rate of 180. Their dot ball percentage is well below 20%, over ten points better than the batter from Tauranga. Since 2016 alone, Kane’s failures or low strike rates can be held responsible for at least seven T20I defeats for the Black Caps.

Even though the Kiwi did redeem himself partially with a well-struck half-century against Ireland in their last Super 12 encounter, the performance seemed ominously pyrrhic from a New Zealand perspective. To underline how poor he had been previously, Williamson's strike rate at the marquee event still only reads 118.91 despite a knock 61(35). Even in the latest edition of the Indian Premier League, Kane had a Cricviz impact score of -85, the worst of any player in the entire tournament. 

One reason why New Zealand have been able to bear Williamson’s presence in the team for so long is their brilliant bowling attack and a reliable pack of batters around him. A fearsome pack of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson ensures the team the room to miss out on a few runs while batting, a model England was reliant on when they had Joe Root in the squad. However, once their attack weakened, Dawid Malan was integrated into the side instead to have an additional dose of explosiveness. In a similar vein, constant failures from Australia’s middle order have forced Australia’s hand to exclude Steven Smith from the lineup, given they already have an anchor in Aaron Finch, and opt for the blockbuster Tim David instead. Thus, the fact that Boult and Southee’s departure from the team is imminent begs the question of what Kane’s future holds, and whether their departure will be the final nail in his coffin.

All that being said, Williamson still holds the crucial captaincy role, one he excels in.

The Black Caps, boasting the perpetual tag of underdogs, steamed to the final in the World T20 last year and have again booked their spot in the semi-finals in the ongoing edition as the group winners. He has a win rate of over 50% as captain in T20Is, a number that surges to 75% in World T20s on the back of just three losses in 16 games in the tournament.

Nevertheless, despite a dearth of senior figures in the team at the moment who can take over the captaincy of New Zealand without much ado, the Kiwis do have a more than capable leader in Mitchell Santner. The all-rounder has already led the team on 10 occasions in T20Is, losing just once in the process. There’s also Tim Southee albeit his days at the top seem numbered given his age, even though his performances hardly betray the fact that he is 33 years old.

The Kane Williamson-New Zealand pairing just seems to work on paper – the 32-year-old is well and truly the face of cricket in the country. It’s the same thing as a MS Dhoni continuing to ply his trade for the Chennai Super Kings or a Mashrafe Mortaza refusing to back down for the Tigers. From a sporting perspective, it seems beyond certain that the islanders need Kane Williamson to bid adieu to T20Is and focus on the formats he excels in. Yet, the Kiwi’s influence as a leader and the role of being a poster boy of New Zealand’s ‘nice guys’ persona makes him hard to discard from the team. Ultimately, Williamson is a generational talent and if his exclusion does not bring the Black Caps success, it can bring a lot of flak for the decision-makers further complicating the decision. Thus, only time will tell whether New Zealand manage to throw the anchor off the board or just be content with it weighing them down.