14th of July, 2019
Lord’s Cricket Ground, London.
The day is now forever enchanted in gold in English cricket history, and the moment that it happened, was a sight to behold. The uproar the country felt within itself was the first for England, as they clinched their first-ever ICC World Cup title. The way they won it, well, the fairness of it is still debated to this day, and the debates, perhaps, will go on forever. But something else caught the whole world’s eyes, something that left everyone in awe of one man; the New Zealand cricket team captain; Kane Williamson.
Kane Williamson, the elder one to his twin Logan, was born in Tauranga, NZ. Born to a family quite exposed to sports already with his father being a well known cricketing figure in the Bay of Plenty and his mother being a representative basketballer, his exposure to sports was a mere formality. The family didn’t just have the belief of playing sports for recreation but to create bonds. Brett, his father himself arranged for the boys to go to a school with a proper cricketing programme and nurturing in the area. Well, he arranged for Kane for greatness. Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell, who have also represented the country many times were childhood friends to the twins.
He was pretty prosperous to have everything around him to prepare himself for the game and shape himself up for proper competition. The outskirts that he grew up in had kids who shared a sense of competition and pride in playing, winning and developing their qualities for better. A sporty family, an in-born pal to play with, a cricketing location and friends to play with, one can actually say he was kind of lucky to have everything around him that helped him get to where he is today.
In a neighbourhood filled with certain desires about playing sports, to have someone like Kane, Doug, and Trent to have made so far has a lot more to do with just playing cricket for bonds. A lot has been said about how Kane was focused from the days he started playing the game, with a certain enthusiasm, he didnt just play for playing, he played to improve and to make it big. His father has always picked up threads on how focused he was on improving. But his natural talent speaks for itself. His environment created a cricketing genius at an early age who reportedly had an excess of 40 centuries while only at school. What added facts to his meteoric rise at early age is his cricketing representation at the age of 14 and first-class cricket debut at the age of 16. He was just 17 when he led his country to the semis in the ICC U-19 World Cup in Malaysia in 2008. It’d be an understatement to say that he was destined for something big. He was destined for greatness. For times, he was touted to be the best New Zealand batsman to ever don the blackcaps.
Unfortunately, for the player he was said to be, his career got started to what is a youngster’s nightmare. He got sent out for a nine-bowl duck at the hands of India followed by another duck at the hands of Sri Lanka. The best part about the fall at the very start is his patience for things to arrive and it all arrived pretty fast. When he racked up a ton on his test debut, the world knew the Kane Williamson that was talked about back in New Zealand. The way he played the pace bowlers is something a non-Indian subcontinent player is known to be good at. But the way he played spin with ease since his early days is what caught the eyes of everyone in the cricketing world. Five consecutive 50 plus scores against India at home in 2014 brought him in regular conversations as the fab four of the cricketing world, evidently, have Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Steve Smith alongside Kane.
The best part about his game seems to be his ability to notch up quick runs which seems to be at the time of his choice. Although the way he anchors the innings is second to none, the way he has strided to get the majority of the Kiwis’ runs and been the backbone of the team for years keeps him in the conversations for the time being and the times forward.
Alongside being a brilliant batsman, the other side of him is often talked about; the gentleman that he is. On being called the most talented batsman of his country, he doesn’t really seem convinced. Modesty has always been inside of him wherever he goes albeit the press conferences or in any interview he speaks on. The epitome of his modesty and unfulfilling kindness was witnessed by the whole world at Lords’ in the 2019 world cup final. Having lost two consecutive world cup finals, one would have had a mixture of emotions and no human is out of harm’s way in this. But the audacious smile he left on his face is something that epitomises the gentleman he is. The way he took the defeat deserves all the plaudits. They had lost with what many term as ‘unfairness in the law’ and ‘ambiguity in its comprehension’. And with all that, he went on to give probably one of the nicest press conferences ever.
“Laugh or cry, it’s your choice, isn’t it? It’s not anger. There’s a lot of disappointment, I suppose. Yeah, the guys are really feeling it and I think it’s probably more down to some of the uncontrollables (sic).”
The lines got him a standing ovation from the home crowd. Twitter was having a meltdown on the words he said, the loss had its own effects on the players, but the team won millions of fans and social media erupted in applause for Kane. Athletes prepare for everything they do on the field with bowl or bat. But does this modest nature come with any kind of gut wrenching practise? I don’t think so.
How could you smile when all that rings on your ears are the voices that say that you haven’t actually lost with the drama with the overthrows, two superovers and the boundary count that followed? Anger, frustration, doubts ponder on one’s mind. And he stood there smiling. Eoin Morgan, the England captain termed these bunch of New Zealanders and Kane in specific as the role models for kids.
There’s another story of Kane’s modesty in his school days when he, being the batsman he is, was sent down at seven to bat. 50 plus runs were required when he was batting with number eleven and he didn’t even let his partner bat a single bowl and won his team the game. That’s not it. While walking off the field, he stopped at the boundary line to let his partner, who didn’t even face a single bowl to cross the line first, shying away from the spotlight and credit he duly deserved. Even at such a tender age, he had developed the kind of modesty that is rare to see these days with constant sledging and aggression we see on a cricket field. If this doesn’t tell you about the human being he is, and that it comes from within Kane, I have no idea what will.
And if only we all had the competence of Kane to shy away from defeats, from the spotlight, take it inside the chest, sleep it off and move on. We might or might not see big records broken from Kane Williamson with the national team, one thing’s for sure; and that is we won’t stop getting to see the gentleman that is Kane Williamson. The New Zealand cricket team will move forward with him as the backbone of the team, and with someone like him leading the bunch, there’s every chance they will compete at the highest level. The character he has to offer to this game is the best cricket has to offer today. Kane Williamson; the gentleman of the game!