New Zealand captain Kane Williamson turns 30 today; Happy Birthday batting maestro

By
Sneha Roy
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Kolkata: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson turned 30 today. A soft-spoken Williamson means business on the field and ranks one among the Fab Four — Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steve Smith and Williamson — in the world currently. Pundits portray him as the finest batsman New Zealand has ever produced. He won the Player of the Tournament award for his performance in ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

Kane was born on August 8 in 1990 to Brett and Sandra Williamson in Tauranga, New Zealand. He excelled at several sports, including rugby, field hockey, basketball, volleyball, soccer and cricket. Williamson’s childhood hero was Sachin Tendulkar.

One of the gentleman’s of game, Williamson made his Test debut at the age of 20 against India at Ahmedabad. He scored 131 runs off 299 balls, becoming the eighth New Zealander to score a century on Test debut. Kane had smashed 40 centuries by the time he left school.

Williamson also holds the record of being the youngest batsman to score centuries against all the Test-playing nations. He is one die-hard surfing fan. In his words, he is as much a surfer as he is a cricketer. It was reported that he along with South African pacer Dale Steyn were seen surfing during the 2015 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) while playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

In early 2014, Williamson who bowls off-spin was called for chucking. However, he was cleared in December after he modified his action. In 2014, there was a massacre in Pakistan when terrorists killed 134 children in a school in Peshawar. Williamson did not hold back in helping those who suffered and donated all of his match fees from the ODI series against Pakistan that year.

Williamson became the first player from New Zealand to cross 900 rating points in the ICC Test batting rankings in December 2018. In 2019, during the Test series against Bangladesh, Williamson scored 200 not out helping New Zealand post their highest-ever total of 715. He also became the fastest New Zealand player to score 6,000 Test runs. In 2019 he was named the captain of New Zealand’s squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

Williamson was only 17 when he led the New Zealand U-19 side in the World Cup in Malaysia in 2008. He led the side to the semifinal where they lose to Virat Kohli’s India, who went on to become champions.

Williamson played a vital part in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s title-winning campaign in 2016. In 2018, he was announced as Sunrisers Hyderabad captain replacing David Warner and led the team to a runners-up finish losing to Chennai Super Kings in the final. He also won the Orange Cap for scoring the most runs (735) that year.

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