Kane Williamson in his first test since giving up the New Zealand captaincy. Photo / Photosport
Kane Williamson in his first test since giving up the New Zealand captaincy. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
What a joy to see Kane Williamson leading, not as a captain, but once again with his bat in the drawn test against Pakistan.
It’s a sign that the decision to replace him as captain may be the right one and Williamson, NZ Cricket and whoever else was involvedstand to be congratulated for making it. There’s no denying Williamson’s cricketing brain, but his always seemed an appointment made according to the dull philosophy of “he’s the best player, so let’s make him skipper”.
There’s nothing wrong with that, except the continued practice of giving your best player an extra burden to carry has often proved unsustainable in world cricket. So it was excellent to see the 32-year-old, after a long spell of injury and lesser form, respond in the best way against Pakistan.
Some of his batting recalled the best of him, principally playing Pakistan’s dangerous spinners, even on a pitch of batting-friendly rolled dust. That shot where he deliberately plays against the spin, clipping it through midwicket, milked runs – and he executes with so much time and precision that the risk of the shot is erased.
“I have bowled against [Joe] Root but the way Williamson has batted tells you how good he is,” said new Pakistani spinner Abrar Ahmed, who dismissed England’s Root in his debut test. “Williamson is extraordinary and even plays your good balls easily.” Ahmed finished with 5-205, his second five-wicket haul in only three tests.
Others recently removed from the captaincy have not always done so well – like Virat Kohli, one of Williamson’s contemporaries in test batting’s “big four” (Root and Steve Smith the others, all now former captains). Smith has gathered strength since being banned for a year and losing the captaincy in the sandpaper scandal; so has Root. He gave way to Bazball and new England captain Ben Stokes in April and, since then, has amassed 740 test runs (many of them against New Zealand) at an average of 56.92, compared to his overall average of 49.43.
Kohli was subjected to a much more political exit, quitting the test captaincy suddenly in January after previously being relieved of his short-form skipper duties. In tests, he has scored only 157 runs since then, with a highest score of 45 in nine innings and an average of 19.62, compared to his overall average of 48.90. His ODI form has suffered too.
Indian cricket being what it is, such politics are endemic – and captaincy is often where the sharpest barbs lodge. Not just in India. All you have to do is read Ross Taylor’s account of how he was removed in favour of Brendon McCullum and the meant-to-be-heard comments from the back of the bus from some of what outwardly seemed a collection of mature Kiwi cricketers.
Cricket is a team game played by individuals. There are plenty of eyes carefully scrutinising the performances of teammates. In captaincy, style is important (Williamson’s tends towards the conservative) and cosmetic things like handling media also count. Williamson never appealed as a captain who found the outward-facing parts of the job appealing; his typically self-effacing analysis of his 200 was delivered in trademark colourless style.
Kane Williamson in action against Pakistan. Photo / AP
Some felt new skipper Tim Southee erred by letting the former captain take too long to get to his 200 before declaring – but the Black Caps still had chances to win the match. In any case, the long-term investment in encouraging Williamson to find his feet again could produce bigger dividends in the future.
With his 200, Williamson moved up cricket’s charts of the all-time greats – and into the top five of an unofficial all-time test stat: innings per hundreds. Williamson scores a ton or better every 6.2 times at bat, behind only Bradman (who will never be headed at 2.75), Smith (5.5), Kumar Sangakkara (6.1) and Garry Sobers (6.15) – and ahead of Jacques Kallis, Greg Chappell, Sunni Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Kohli. Root, by comparison, hits a century every 8.3 times at bat.
Such stats are affected by the number of innings played and New Zealand’s comparatively sparse test calendar helps Williamson, but a 100 every six times at bat is a remarkable figure, just as Sir Richard Hadlee is high on the wickets-for-balls-delivered count in test cricket history.
It was the right time to reboot the Black Caps with a new skipper and it’s to be hoped Williamson takes further advantage after New Zealand’s pale defence of their world test title in 2022. He’s only 32 and has the ability to play past 35 and 36 – when 10,000 or (outside chance) even 11,000 runs might be a possibility.
Only 10 players have gone past 11,000 in the history of the game. Whatever happens to Williamson from here, it may be that the Black Caps’ reset will be a key moment.
