Kane Williamson has announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect, \u00adending a record-breaking 16-year career midway through New Zealand\u2019s Test series against England.<\/p>\n
Williamson returned scores of 0\u00a0and 18 in his final Test at Lord\u2019s last week, a poor surface ruining what turned out to be his farewell appearance. The 35-year-old finishes as New Zealand\u2019s leading run-scorer in international cricket with 19,346 runs in 378 appearances, including 48 centuries.<\/p>\n
His Test record is the standout \u2013 110 appearances producing a batting average of 54 \u2013 but Williamson found his way against the white ball, too. He captained New Zealand at Lord\u2019s in the 2019 World Cup final, boundary count denying his side the title<\/a>; Williamson was named player of the tournament for his 578 runs at 83.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve thought about it for a while, but over the last few days it\u2019s become clear now is the right time,\u201d \u00adWilliamson said. \u201cI\u2019ve always felt a strong drive and hunger for international cricket and I take pride in knowing I\u2019ve given it my all in every match I\u2019ve played for New Zealand.<\/p>\n \u201cContinuing with anything less wouldn\u2019t be right and I feel fortunate to step away on my own terms. I leave feeling optimistic about where this group is heading.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a huge amount of talent, and a real desire to do something special with this New Zealand team. It\u2019s a team I love and I feel incredibly fortunate to have been part of it for so long. It will continue to be dear to my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n The right-hander began his Test career in 2010 with a debut \u00adhundred in Ahmedabad, his early feats \u00adcommanding the respect of the former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe. In a 2014 article for ESPNcricinfo, Crowe placed Williamson in the \u201cFab Four\u201d alongside Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Steve Smith, up-and-comers he predicted would captain their countries and take turns as the No 1-ranked Test batter in the world. The late Crowe was right on both counts.<\/p>\n Williamson topped the Test \u00adrankings for the first time in 2015, finishing that calendar year with 1,172 runs at 90 and hundreds in England and Australia, and he was soon named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year. He is the first of Crowe\u2019s quartet to depart international cricket \u00adcompletely and the second to leave Tests after Kohli\u2019s retirement last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n He captained his country in 40 Tests, leading them to victory in the inaugural World Test \u00adChampionship final in 2021<\/a>. Williamson\u2019s usual poker face broke in the middle as Ross Taylor hit the winning runs in Southampton, the pair helming New Zealand\u2019s chase of 139 against Kohli\u2019s India. New Zealand reached the final of the T20 World Cup later that year as well, but Williamson\u2019s 48-ball 85 was not enough to defeat Australia in Dubai.<\/p>\n Kane Williamson captained New Zealand to victory in the 2021 World Test Championship final against India. Photograph: Adam Davy\/PA<\/p>\n The enduring image he leaves is of those soft hands guiding the ball to third man. With modern batting turning more muscular, he was the arm-guard purist who kept up with the rest, \u00adhaving his fun in the franchise circus. As captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad, Williamson took the team to the final of the 2018 Indian Premier League, finishing as the tournament\u2019s leading runscorer. Arguably his finest stroke was a six: a nerveless, match-ending blow off Pat Cummins, down the ground, in a World Cup classic against Australia in 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n While a mid-series retirement is a shock, the end has been coming for a while. Williamson declined a New Zealand central contract in 2024, reducing his international \u00adcommitments, and joined Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL last year as a \u201cstrategic advisor\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who\u2019s had the privilege of working with Kane understands he is a very special player and \u00adperson,\u201d said Rob Walter, New Zealand\u2019s head coach. \u201cHis numbers and batting skills speak for themselves, but it\u2019s what he means to this Black Caps team, as well as world cricket \u2013 that will be his legacy. His impact on the culture and standards of this team will remain embedded in its DNA.<\/p>\n \u201cKane\u2019s always put the team first and although we\u2019re disappointed to see him go, we\u2019re happy to know he\u2019s content and at peace with his decision. An incredible player, awesome teammate, a wonderful leader and a fantastic ambassador for our sport.\u201d<\/p>\n Now Walter\u2019s team will head to the Oval for the second Test against England 1-0 down in the series and without one of their greatest players. Throw in Ben Stokes\u2019s absence and the series has quickly lost a couple of modern heroes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kane Williamson has announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect, \u00adending a record-breaking 16-year career midway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-489989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}