Kiwi batsman Kane Williamson is now the third-highest run scorer among the four batters in Test cricket, as part of the "Fab Four," a term coined by the late Martin Crowe in 2014 to refer to the quartet of Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steve Smith, and Kane Williamson.
Williamson has played in 105 Tests and amassed 9,276 runs, trailing Smith's 10,271 runs (116 Tests) and Root's 13,006 runs (153 Tests), while Kohli retired earlier this month after playing 123 Tests and scoring 9,230 runs.
Williamson, 34, has disclosed how Kohli's retirement—the first of the four—made him question whether he had "an end point," even though the other three members of the "Fab Four" batters are still competing in Test matches.
“My first thought was ‘oh gosh, there’s an endpoint. Because before that, you’re on the journey, there’s a pursuit there. And it’s not connected to those other three, but we’ve all been playing at the same time, and we’ve all competed against each other for a long time,and we all know each other pretty well. So, then you do start to reflect a little bit. I know Virat pretty well, we’ve chatted a lot over the years, but you do realise that we’re not just cricketers as well, we’re human beings, and your life situation changes,” Williamson told The Guardian in an interview.
With a Test average of 54.88 runs, Williamson is now ranked 17th in the world's top Test run scorers, with Sachin Tendulkar at the top with 15,921 runs.
The former Kiwi skipper has recounted his memories of playing country cricket in England while playing for Middlesex in the Vitality Blast and County Championship.
“Summer’s always got a nice buzz here in the UK and especially in London, so it’s great to call it home for a few months. I know I really valued my time in England, actually playing county cricket as a young player, getting exposed, and having to learn. You’re just constantly having to try and work things out but getting so many opportunities to do it. Whereas in most other parts of the world you’re playing half as many games a year,” added Williamson.
Prior to playing a two-Test series against Zimbabwe, New Zealand will play its next international encounter in July when it travels to Zimbabwe for a Twenty20 International series against the hosts, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and New Zealand.
Additionally, the 34-year-old discussed his belief that red-ball cricket is "the soul of the game."
“The opportunities now are vast, and that’s an amazing thing. But my passion was for the red-ball game; that was the pinnacle, and that’s where my aspirations were, growing up. I guess on the other side, you have the white-ball formats and they come and they go pretty quickly and there’s so much of it going on, which presents a lot of fantastic opportunities, but yeah, when I talk about the soul of the game I still see that as the red-ball cricket,” said Williamson.
(The Guardian inputs)
