Kane Williamson

Kane Stuart Williamson (born 8 August 1990) is a New Zealand international cricketer and captain of the New Zealand national team in limited overs cricket.

On 27 February 2023, Williamson became the all-time leading run-scorer for New Zealand in Test cricket.

A right-handed batsman and an occasional off spin bowler, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary batsmen and captains New Zealand has ever produced and the greatest New Zealand batsman of all time.

He captained New Zealand to victory in the 2021 ICC World Test Championship final.

Williamson was born on 8 August 1990 in Tauranga, New Zealand.

His father Brett was a sales representative who had played under-17 and club cricket in New Zealand and his mother Sandra had been a representative basketball player.

He has a twin brother Logan, who is one minute younger than him.

The brothers have three older sisters, Anna, Kylie and Sophie.

All three were accomplished volleyball players, and Anna and Sophie were in New Zealand age group teams.

Williamson's grandmother Joan Williamson-Orr served as mayor of Taupō.

His first cousin Dane Cleaver has also played international cricket for New Zealand.

Williamson played senior representative cricket at the age of 14 and first-class cricket at 16.

He attended Tauranga Boys' College from 2004 to 2008, where he was head boy in his final year.

He was coached by Pacey Depina who described Williamson as having "a thirst to be phenomenal – but not at anyone else's expense."

He reportedly scored 40 centuries before he left school.

Williamson made his first-class cricket debut in December 2007.

Williamson made his debut for Northern Districts in 2007 at the age of 17, who he has remained with for the duration of his New Zealand domestic career.

He made his U-19 debut against the touring Indian U-19 team the same year and was named captain of the New Zealand U-19 team for the 2008 U-19 Cricket World Cup.

He made his international debut in 2010.

Williamson has represented New Zealand at the 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023 editions of the Cricket World Cup and 2012, 2014, 2016, 2021 and 2022 editions of the ICC World Twenty20.

Williamson was the only New Zealander to be named in the ICC Test Team of the Decade (2011–2024).

The late former New Zealand cricketer, Martin Crowe, noted that, "we're seeing the dawn of probably our greatest ever batsman" in Williamson.

In June 2021, he captained New Zealand to win the inaugural ICC World Test Championship, the first ICC trophy the team won since winning the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy.

In November 2021, he led New Zealand to the final of the ICC T20 World Cup.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of the modern era.

Williamson signed for Gloucestershire to play in the 2011 English county season.

On 14 August 2013, he signed for Yorkshire for the rest of the season and subsequently signed to return for the 2014 season, when his side won the County Championship.

He scored his first T20 hundred, on 19 September 2014, making 101* in 49 balls to guide Northern Districts to a comfortable win against Cape Cobras in Champions League Twenty20 2014.

He signed to return the latter part of the 2015 season, but when incumbent overseas player Aaron Finch was not selected for the Australia ODI squad, Yorkshire ultimately chose to extend Finch's deal in place of Williamson.

In February 2015, a Williamson signed for Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

He made his full-time captaincy debut for New Zealand in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 in India.

He subsequently signed a deal for part of the 2016 season, and also returned for a part of the 2018 season.

He played for the side in the 2016 season, winning the title, and was retained for the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

He captained the side in 2018, replacing David Warner.

Under Williamson's captaincy, Sunrisers Hyderabad finished runners-up and he was the season's leading scorer with 735 runs.

In IPL 2021, Kane took over the captaincy from David Warner in the middle of the season.

He captained New Zealand at the 2019 Cricket World Cup, leading the team to the final and winning the Player of the Tournament award in the process.

On 31 December 2020, he reached a Test batting rating of 890, surpassing Steve Smith and Joe Root as the number one ranked Test batsmen in the world.

He was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for Test cricketer of the decade.

Ian Chappell and Martin Crowe have ranked Williamson among the top four or five Test cricket batsmen, along with Joe Root, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli of the current era.