Williamson has already carved a striking niche for himself in world cricket. Most runs in Test match history? He ranks No 17 right now, just under 9300 Test runs. Most hundreds in Test history? He has 33, 11th equal, poised to move into the top 10 and possibly even into the top five of all time. He stands above many of the greats of the game. Highest averages in Test cricket? He is 20th on 54.88 (yep, nearly 55 every time he goes out to bat at the highest level) and fourth if you apply the filter of 100 Tests played (cricket’s master statisticians use 20 innings as the qualifying mark for Test averages). The problem with averages, of course, is that a shorter career and fewer innings can produce high averages – but the greats do it over time, when longevity usually sees averages diminish.
This is being written without any idea of Williamson’s plans. He might, for example, decide to stay home and play in some or even most white ball fixtures next year. If he was a different kind of guy, he might see the tour to Zimbabwe as an ideal way to pick up one or two more centuries and boost that average.
But he doesn’t seem to have a fixed interest in his own stats. This is what he said in 2018 when he was asked whether he thought he’d get to 30-35 Test centuries (he had 19 at the time): “No, it’s all about trying to do your role and your bit for the team as best you can and enjoying it as much as you can. That’s where the satisfaction comes from, not from setting lofty goals like that [35 Test centuries] ... I don’t really believe in personal goals, especially in a team sport; they can get in the road of what you are trying to achieve as a team.”
Cricketers have been known to change their minds about such things but it seems more important for New Zealand and Williamson that he has a more relaxing schedule instead of burning himself out on the white-ball treadmill – and there is undoubtedly a generational changing of the guard feel about this team. So 2024-25 will be a key season for the Black Caps – the majority of whom are rapidly ageing. If you look at the 12 who played against England, only four (Rachan Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Will O’Rourke and Nathan Smith) are under 30. The next youngest are Mitchell Santner, Will Young and Tom Latham – all 32 and who will all be two years older in the 2026 Test season.
Even many of those on the periphery of Test cricket are 30 and older and, among the bowlers, the old Test triumvirate of Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner is now gone. Kyle Jamieson and Ben Sears are returning from injury but the former is 29 and will need to guard against further injury to his big frame.
Age is not as much of a concern in cricket as it is in other sports but, all the same, maybe they need a new name – the Grey Caps, rather than the Black Caps. The coming year is an ideal time to rebuild and you’d hope those on the way up get a test trot against Zimbabwe, the West Indies and even South Africa (if those two tests materialise) ahead of some of those closer to the end of their careers.
That might include current coach Gary Stead. Under him, the Black Caps have, overall, done pretty darned well but it may be that the time is nigh. The World Test Championship, that astonishing series win in India and the 2019 Cricket World Cup final are highlights and, if Stead has sometimes been viewed as a conservative selector, he’s balanced that by giving his players faith that they would have time to perform – and they often did.
Someone else, however, may be required during this rebuild and a time when, for once, they can’t count on Kane.
