The current all-format skipper of New Zealand (Happy Birthday Kane Williamson) is celebrating his 32nd birthday today.
Kane Williamson was born on August 08, 1990, in Tauranga, New Zealand, and is known for his reliable batting and excellent leadership skills.
During his international career so far, he has scored 15562 runs (test+ODI+T20 combined), including 37 centuries and 86 half centuries, and he has played a crucial role in guiding New Zealand to win many crucial matches.
Kane Williamson was appointed as captain of New Zealand after the retirement of Brendon McCullum and since then he is handling the responsibility with sheer dedication and commitment, having led his side to the finals of ICC World Cup 2019 and played a major role in guiding New Zealand to win inaugural test championship in 2021 while captaining the side.
How he started in international cricket?
Making his international debut against India in 2010. Williamson didn’t take long in cementing his place in the star-studded New Zealand side. He instantly became everyone’s favorite due to his impressive technique and dependable batting approach.
Apart from heroics in World Cup 2019 and World Test Championship 2021, Williamson had played solid cricket in the other major tournaments as well.
Talking about one of his fine innings, when New Zealand were on tour of India in 2010. In the 1st test between India and New Zealand in Ahmedabad. India posted a massive total of 487 in the first innings, with the help of smashing tons from Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid.
To reach a near about 400 mark for any non-Asian team was a tough task against the Indian side but New Zealand fought it hard and recorded 459 runs. The star of their innings was none other than the debutant, Kane Williamson, who not just smashed a ton on debut but also scored the most runs for his team (131). The test ended with no result.
His one more brilliant knock came against West Indies in the 2014 New Zealand tour of the West Indies. That was a series to remember for Kane as he showed his class in that series by scoring 413 runs and also taking 2 wickets. He later won the player of the series award for his excellent outing in the Caribbean.
When the 3-match series was on 1-1 level, both teams were ready to battle it out in the final game to win the series. And with that in mind, West Indies started removing visitors’ batters at quick intervals, and New Zealand anyhow managed to put 293 on board. In reply, West Indies scored 317 and took 24 runs lead.
The second innings for New Zealand turned out to be dreary as no batter apart from Williamson faced 67-plus balls. But Williamson being Williamson not just faced as many as 271 deliveries but also recorded his best numbers in test cricket (161) at that time.
His heroic knock helped New Zealand set a huge target in front of the West Indies, which they failed to chase and lost the final match of the series by 53 runs.
Kane Williamson’s records and achievements
The veteran represented New Zealand in 88 Tests, 151 ODIs, and 74 T20Is so far. He smashed 7,368 runs in test cricket, 6,173 runs in one-day internationals, and 2021 in the T20Is. While he picked 73 wickets in combined and 313 games in international cricket.
He holds the record of being the youngest centurion in New Zealand cricket history. He smashed his international century on debut match against India in 2010 when he was of 20 years.
Williamson achieved the milestone of 3000 runs in the longest format of the game as the fifth fastest in the World, and the first fastest among the New Zealanders to do so.
He holds the rare record of crossing 900 ICC rating points in 2018; the only New Zealand player to do so till date. While the current skipper is the only New Zealand batter to record 1172 runs in a single calendar year in 2015.
