Virat Kohli shoots up to career-high fourth in ICC Test Player Rankings

[Phantom Menace]

Kane Williamson average drops to 45 in tests excluding Ban, Zim and WI.

The numbers would drop further if you exclude SL.

But that is not the all-in-all deal. His numbers are messed up with initial tours.

He has a solid temperament and has been carrying the current NZ team on his own.

Few of his knocks vs SL were great ones including that 242* and earlier this year chased down 250 in 4th inning single-handedly.

In my opinion his greatest knock so far is his 102* in the fourth innings to save the match against South Africa when Steyn bowled him in the box when on a low score and Morkel had innings figures of something like 6-20

 

[Phantom Menace]

I would love it if Kane were half as good as people make him out to be, if he were, we wouldn't have gotten crushed against Aus, SA and India. I know it's harsh but when we needed him, he failed to show up. For someone that is talked as one of the best and a future ATG, it simply isn't good enough.

Kane is a fantastic batsmen and is an upgrade on Bell, but there's something clearly missing. I don't know what it is, he just doesn't turn his innings into great or match winnings knocks. It's either a lack of talent, hunger, poor temperament, poor shot selection or combination of those. If he were as good as the other 3, he would have far more great knocks than he has, IMO those other 3 are much better in the aspects I've listed above.

That SL knock people refer to, he was dropped about 3 times... 2 of which were dollies...

I'm still waiting for a big knock (tough conditions, away from home and against a great attack) that announces him as one of the best in the game.

Second quote of this post but also wanted to say if you were to look for an upgraded version of Ian Bell I would probably point to Mahela.

 

[Ab Fan]

In my opinion his greatest knock so far is his 102* in the fourth innings to save the match against South Africa when Steyn bowled him in the box when on a low score and Morkel had innings figures of something like 6-20

Yeah, it was a great gutsy knock where Morne Morkel was really on fire but I think he was dropped twice in that knock and at pretty low scores.

I still have to say that somewhat [MENTION=132954]Aman[/MENTION] 's point is right as he has failed to perform as consistently against quality sides or in tougher conditions as he does against mediocre bowling attacks like SL, WI, Ban and Zim.

 

[Phantom Menace]

Yeah, it was a great gutsy knock where Morne Morkel was really on fire but I think he was dropped twice in that knock and at pretty low scores.

I still have to say that somewhat [MENTION=132954]Aman[/MENTION] 's point is right as he has failed to perform as consistently against quality sides or in tougher conditions as he does against mediocre bowling attacks like SL, WI, Ban and Zim.

He should perform more consistently against weaker sides because they are weaker.

I'm not trying to say he is perfect or anything. He does clearly have holes in his record and the hope would be to push that average up to 40+ against all opponents.

I'm hopeful he can perform well against South Africa when they tour NZ early next year because that opponent is the biggest hole in his resume.


One point that is worth making is that Kane played in a very toxic team until the end of the tour of South Africa in early 2013. That was the first tour after the captaincy fiasco between Taylor and McCullum and at the end of that test series New Zealand found the resolve to be a true team that works for each other.

Here are his stats after that tour.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...;spanval1=span;template=results;type=allround

Still not perfect, but much more consistent after his early struggles in a weak team with bad culture.

 

[Chrish]

I've seen enough of his career to know he isn't ATG standard.

Nothing against him or Smith, just don't think they're good enough to be mentioned in the same league as the games greatest.

Both will definitely finish as NZ/Aus greats and will be among the top batsmen of this era.

You are being too pessimistic.. Williamson is a quality player.

People were writing off Cook not long ago