Black Caps captain Kane Williamson patient while managing knee recovery
Kane Williamson will be hoping 2024 doesn’t throw up any more obstacles like the ones he has had to deal with over the past three years.
Not that those issues – a niggly tendon in his left elbow, a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last April, and a broken left thumb – seem to have slowed him down at all.
Since the start of the 2020-21 summer – where the elbow issue that forced him to eventually take an extended break in 2022 first flared up – Williamson has averaged 71.48 in tests, 63.70 in one-day internationals and 34.73 in Twenty20 internationals.
It’s the latter format he will line up in on Friday, when the Black Caps face Pakistan at Eden Park in Auckland in the first clash of a five-match series, which serves as a key part of their preparations for June’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States.
But after leading his side in the first two matches - the second is at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Sunday - Williamson will skip the third at University of Otago Oval in Dunedin on Wednesday, before returning for the last two at Hagley Oval in Christchurch next Friday and Sunday.
He already skipped the ODI and T20I series against Bangladesh that got the home summer underway in December. While he was always set to miss the ODIs, he was originally picked for the T20Is, only to later withdraw.
Continued rehabilitation of his knee is the reason why, after he returned in just six months from an injury that often sidelines athletes for nine or more. Avoiding the extra flights involved in travelling to Dunedin made that match the ideal spot for a rest in the coming series.
Williamson's condensed recovery timeframe allowed him to lead the Black Caps as they made it to the semifinals of the ODI World Cup in India in November, though a broken thumb in his first match back meant his return wasn't as triumphant as it might have been.
Speaking ahead of Friday's T20I series opener, Williamson said he didn't expect he would have to manage his knee too far into the future.
"It's tough. You get back to playing and naturally the mindset ... is that it's done and dusted, then you get a tap on the shoulder and actually there's work to do to maintain it and keep working through it.
"It's still relatively early, I suppose, although I've been playing, and it's been nice to be doing that. It's just still putting in that work.
"It's just part of a plan to keep moving forward, keeping the knee health strong, and taking those steps forward, whilst looking to play as much as I can."
When Williamson returned to action after stepping away to let his elbow heal early in 2022 - missing home test series against Bangladesh and South Africa - his strike rates in all three formats were down on his career averages, though he still managed to grind out several crucial innings.
He appeared to turn a corner when he scored a double-century in Pakistan at the end of 2022 and since then, he has been at the top of his game, even in the wake of his knee injury and the significant period of time he spent out of action recovering.
Williamson said he had learnt from his first lengthy layoff - for an injury which more directly affected his batting as he made his way back from the second, saying it was about "accepting that it is what it is, and you're trying to go through it as best you can and put the time in and have patience, so when the time comes, you're ready, and very much looking forward to shifting through those gears".
Kane Williamson hates missing matches for the Black Caps, but has accepted it's for the best that he skips the third T20I against Pakistan.
i.stuff.co.nz
