Kane Williamson, technically, one of the best batsmen of modern-day cricket is an inspiration to many. He has been the most significant discovery for New Zealand cricket, and now the Kiwi skipper has been named as New Zealand men’s one-day international cricketer of the year on Thursday.
The Black Caps stellar had a terrific run in the 2019 Cricket World Cup. Williamson was declared the ‘Player of the Tournament’ for scoring 578 runs and his outstanding leadership that led the Kiwis to their second successive World Cup final.
On the grounds of his last year’s show at the global showpiece, Williamson was rewarded with the ODI cricketer of the year at NZ Cricket’s annual awards.
“Kane was simply exceptional at the ICC Cricket World Cup last year,” said Black Caps coach Gary Stead as quoted by Stuff – a media website in New Zealand.
“He can be extremely proud of what he achieved at the tournament in the UK. He scored his runs at crucial times, in crucial matches and he set a tempo throughout the tournament that allowed us to play some superb cricket,” Gary added.
Apart from Williamson, veteran men’s cricketer Ross Taylor grabbed ‘T20I cricketer of the year’. The middle-order batsman recently scored 360 runs in the white-ball series against India. Overall in T20s at international circuit, Taylor has clubbed 1961 runs in 101 games with eight half-centuries.
When it comes to women’s cricket, then New Zealand’s stalwart female cricketers, Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine also collected the silverware. Bates won women’s ODI player of the year while White Ferns skipper Devine was awarded the T20 international player of the year titles.
In 124 ODI matches, Bates has accumulated 4534 runs with 10 centuries and 27 fifties. She is the highest run-scorer for New Zealand and sixth amongst overall ODI records. Whereas, Devine has amassed 2384 runs in 91 T20I games for White ferns.
“Our T20 side is at its best when Sophie is scoring runs at the top. She gives others around her the freedom to play their natural game,” said White Ferns coach Bob Carter.
“Sophie’s ability with the ball in T20 cricket goes under the radar at times. She will often step up and bowl the hard overs and uses changes of pace to her advantage. She is a top quality all-rounder and an exceptional T20 talent,” Carter added.
