By guiding New Zealand to the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) title and the T20 World Cup final in 2021, Kane Williamson asserted his claim as the country’s best captain in history. His career, however, is in doubt due to a persistent elbow injury and a decline in performance in both international and IPL cricket.
Williamson not stepping down
Williamson was supposed to step down as New Zealand’s white-ball captain and take over as the team’s captain in Test matches due to the busy cricketing schedule. However, it wasn’t the case.
When the time came, Williamson resigned as Test captain but remained in charge of the white-ball teams, perhaps motivated by the desire to win the 2023 ODI World Cup. Even in this improbable scenario, it was anticipated that Tom Latham would succeed him.
He had relied on him enough when he did. But New Zealand Cricket (NZC) had a different opinion and chose to fill the position with Tim Southee.
Trent Boult was playing for the Melbourne Stars in the BBL at the same time as New Zealand was in dire need of a wicket on the first day of the Karachi Test. Later, with Melbourne Renegades, on the second, Martin Guptill played in his first BBL game.
Ross Taylor and Colin de Grandhomme both left the game of cricket internationally. Williamson and Latham continue to spearhead the Test team’s batting, despite the fact that New Zealand’s cricketing scene is changing.
Crumbling pitch
The pitch in Karachi is beginning to crumble. Puffs of dust would frequently be produced when a ball landed in the rough, and as the game came to a conclusion, Pakistan’s spinners began to show turns even when the ball was going straight. It turned slowly though. That is unimportant to batters. The poor bounce was what bothered them.
Williamson, in particular, loves to hold his head high and dink the ball to the third man on accurate pitches. One like this was everything but. In order to play as straight as possible, he had to lower his stance, tighten his defense, and play.
That inherently affects your ability to score runs quickly, which is why he was once just 7 off of 45 at one point.
Latham adhered to a similar model. It’s ironic that the son of Rockin Rod doesn’t even have a franchise T20 contract, yet he is always there for his club when they need him. He blunts the new ball over the field at a time when it is challenging to begin batting in Test cricket.
He has significantly improved his batting in order to start all of New Zealand’s ODI matches and provide balance for the team. Rahul Dravid voluntarily performed that action for India in the past.
Latham has consistently stood ready to lead the team in Williamson’s absence. When Williamson and Southee take a break at home following the Pakistan tour, he will captain the team in India in January 2023.
It is too soon to say how these two hundred will affect the Test, but one thing is for sure: Williamson and Latham were at the peak of their strategic abilities. They used what they have in common, a good back-foot game, to maintain penetrating gaps on the leg side and took great care to avoid being caught at the same end for an extended period of time.
However, their limitations were a result of their unique abilities.
This Test match has been a slow burner on a slow pitch where it hasn’t been simple to score easily or strike swiftly. However, it had a lasting impression.
Williamson returned to the dressing room to a warm welcome from Latham and Southee, signaling the conclusion of a hard workday and maybe the start of a new era in New Zealand cricket.
Here are more stories related to cricket.