Aman
Test Captain
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2013
- Runs
- 47,061
The Black Caps are set to be without captain Kane Williamson for this year’s ODI World Cup after it was revealed the star batter had suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and was headed for surgery.
White-ball skipper Williamson sustained the knee injury in the IPL season-opener on Saturday (NZ time) while on debut for the Gujarat Titans, attempting to take a catch on the boundary.
After laying on the ground in agony, then soon later being carried off the park, he was on Sunday ruled out of the rest of the IPL campaign by his Titans side.
Williamson then arrived back in Auckland on Tuesday, on crutches, and was headed for a scan and to see a specialist.
New Zealand Cricket on Thursday then delivered the news that the whole country had hoped wouldn’t be coming.
“Unfortunately for Kane, he has ruptured his ACL in his right knee,” Black Caps coach Gary Stead said in a video interview with NZC.
With six months until the start of the World Cup – which runs from October 5 to November 19 – and ACL’s typically taking a six-to-nine-month rehabilitation period, Williamson, who is set to undergo surgery in the next two to three weeks, is unlikely to be fit for selection for the this year’s event in India.
In a statement, the 32-year-old sent a message of thanks for the support he had received since the injury, and vowed to still help the team in whatever capacity he could.
“I’ve received great support over the past few days and want to thank both the Gujarat Titans and New Zealand Cricket for that,” he said.
“Naturally it’s disappointing to get such an injury, but my focus now is on having the surgery and starting rehab.
“It’s going to take some time, but I’ll be doing everything I can to get back on the field as soon as possible.
“I look forward to doing what I can to support Gary and the team over the next few months.”
While Stead acknowledged it would be “unlikely” to have Williamson for the World Cup, he was refusing to rule out his star man just yet.
”From our perspective, we certainly haven’t given up hope on that, and Kane will meet a number of milestones in the next six months or so,” he said, adding that the reason for a slight delay in the surgery was because best practice was to wait for swelling in the knee to first die down.
After their final home international of the season – the third T20 against Sri Lanka in Queenstown on Saturday – the Black Caps head to Pakistan for five T20s and five ODIs, starting next weekend, then through August/September go to the United Arab Emirates for three T20s, England for four T20s and four ODIs and Bangladesh for three ODIs, and Stead admitted that with most of the World Cup planning already in the bank, Williamson’s injury would “definitely” cause a re-think.
“You take Kane the player, for a first start, but then Kane the leader and the person he is within our group as well, it’s a huge spanner in the works for us.
“Our first thoughts, obviously, are with Kane at the moment, it’s a tough time for him, it’s not an injury that you expect is going to happen, it comes out of the blue and it obviously hits you pretty hard at the time.”
Williamson, who in 161 ODIs has scored the fourth-most runs for New Zealand (6554), as well as the fourth-most centuries (12), has a princely average of 47.83 and will be irreplaceable at No 3.
At the last World Cup, in 2019 in England, he was named player of the tournament, having been the fourth-highest run scorer (578 from nine innings) at an incredible average of 82.57, with two half centuries and two hundreds, as the Black Caps came up just short in that dramatic Super Over tie against England in the final.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...liamson-likely-out-of-world-cup-with-torn-acl
White-ball skipper Williamson sustained the knee injury in the IPL season-opener on Saturday (NZ time) while on debut for the Gujarat Titans, attempting to take a catch on the boundary.
After laying on the ground in agony, then soon later being carried off the park, he was on Sunday ruled out of the rest of the IPL campaign by his Titans side.
Williamson then arrived back in Auckland on Tuesday, on crutches, and was headed for a scan and to see a specialist.
New Zealand Cricket on Thursday then delivered the news that the whole country had hoped wouldn’t be coming.
“Unfortunately for Kane, he has ruptured his ACL in his right knee,” Black Caps coach Gary Stead said in a video interview with NZC.
With six months until the start of the World Cup – which runs from October 5 to November 19 – and ACL’s typically taking a six-to-nine-month rehabilitation period, Williamson, who is set to undergo surgery in the next two to three weeks, is unlikely to be fit for selection for the this year’s event in India.
In a statement, the 32-year-old sent a message of thanks for the support he had received since the injury, and vowed to still help the team in whatever capacity he could.
“I’ve received great support over the past few days and want to thank both the Gujarat Titans and New Zealand Cricket for that,” he said.
“Naturally it’s disappointing to get such an injury, but my focus now is on having the surgery and starting rehab.
“It’s going to take some time, but I’ll be doing everything I can to get back on the field as soon as possible.
“I look forward to doing what I can to support Gary and the team over the next few months.”
While Stead acknowledged it would be “unlikely” to have Williamson for the World Cup, he was refusing to rule out his star man just yet.
”From our perspective, we certainly haven’t given up hope on that, and Kane will meet a number of milestones in the next six months or so,” he said, adding that the reason for a slight delay in the surgery was because best practice was to wait for swelling in the knee to first die down.
After their final home international of the season – the third T20 against Sri Lanka in Queenstown on Saturday – the Black Caps head to Pakistan for five T20s and five ODIs, starting next weekend, then through August/September go to the United Arab Emirates for three T20s, England for four T20s and four ODIs and Bangladesh for three ODIs, and Stead admitted that with most of the World Cup planning already in the bank, Williamson’s injury would “definitely” cause a re-think.
“You take Kane the player, for a first start, but then Kane the leader and the person he is within our group as well, it’s a huge spanner in the works for us.
“Our first thoughts, obviously, are with Kane at the moment, it’s a tough time for him, it’s not an injury that you expect is going to happen, it comes out of the blue and it obviously hits you pretty hard at the time.”
Williamson, who in 161 ODIs has scored the fourth-most runs for New Zealand (6554), as well as the fourth-most centuries (12), has a princely average of 47.83 and will be irreplaceable at No 3.
At the last World Cup, in 2019 in England, he was named player of the tournament, having been the fourth-highest run scorer (578 from nine innings) at an incredible average of 82.57, with two half centuries and two hundreds, as the Black Caps came up just short in that dramatic Super Over tie against England in the final.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...liamson-likely-out-of-world-cup-with-torn-acl
