Kane Williamson represented New Zealand in 93 T20Is, while captaining them in 75 of those matches, after having made his debut in the format in 2011, 14 years ago. Williamson, last played a T20I for New Zealand as a captain, rightly so, in the last year’s T20 World Cup.
The writing was on the wall and Kane Williamson has pulled the plug from his international T20 career for New Zealand. Former Kiwi skipper, Williamson, who last played a T20I, was back in the last year’s T20 World Cup, is currently on a casual contract with the Black Caps and will take a decision on his Test and ODI career in due course. The 35-year-old, who made his debut for New Zealand in the format in 2011, went on to represent his country in 93 T20Is, while captaining in 75 of them.
“It’s something that I’ve loved being a part of for a long period of time and I’m so grateful for the memories and experiences,” Williamson said in an NZC statement, while mentioning that it was the right time for him to move on from the format, while providing a clarity to the team in T20Is with regards to team selection, with a T20 World Cup scheduled to take place in three months’ times.
“It’s the right time for myself and the team. It gives the team clarity for the series moving forward and ahead of their next major focus which is the T20 World Cup. There’s so much T20 talent there and the next period will be important to get cricket into these guys and get them ready for the World Cup,” he added.
Williamson will end as the second-highest run-getter for New Zealand in the format, scoring 2,575 runs, while averaging 33.44. In 75 matches he led New Zealand, the Black Caps won 39 of them and reached the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in 2016 and 2022 and the final of the 2021 edition, where Williamson and Co came up short.
“We’ve made it clear to Kane he has our full support as he reaches the back end of his illustrious career,” Scott Weenink, NZC CEO said, ” said. “We would, of course, love to see him play for as long as possible, but there’s no doubt whenever he does decide to finally call time – he will go down as a legend of New Zealand cricket.
Williamson scored the highest of 95, when he single-handedly took New Zealand to a competitive score of 179 against India in the iconic five-match series in early 2020. However, that ended up being the only tied match in Williamson’s leadership. His best knock though came at the biggest stage of the format – the T20 World Cup final – when Williamson scored 85 off just 48 balls against Australia when his side got off to a slow start batting first and even though his side lost, the No 3 batter reminded everyone that if need be, he can play his shots and be the boss he wants to.
Williamson, however, will keep playing T20 franchise cricket. His next international assignment will be a three-match Test series against the West Indies, on December 2 in Christchurch.