Kane Williamson has been sidelined with an ACL injury since April - here’s the latest update on how he’s tracking in his race to make the ODI World Cup.
Black Caps coach Gary Stead has revealed an “encouraging” update on the status of skipper Kane Williamson, but says it’s stilltoo soon to know whether he will make the ODI World Cup squad.
Williamson suffered an ACL injury while playing for the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League on April 2, and while he has always been deemed unlikely to recover in time for next month’s World Cup, his significant progress means the Black Caps are willing to wait until the last minute to make a call on his fitness.
The 33-year-old will link up in England with the ODI squad early next month to continue his recovery, which may give the Black Caps medical staff a few more days of information before the World Cup squad is named. The first ODI against England is on September 8, while the World Cup squad will be named sometime between the 5th and 10th of September.
“He’ll be getting a little bit of training under his belt, being in and around the squad – leaning on his experiences will be important to the group but ultimately it’s about seeing whether he will be ready for us and that’s something only time will tell,” said Stead.
“It’s a good sign but he’s not there yet, we’ll take every measure we can to make sure we’ve got medical advice that lines up and he’s where we want to be before we make that call on whether he goes.
“Kane’s working on a day-by-day, week-by-week process and we’ve been clear and careful with him that we don’t look too far ahead. He’s progressed as we’ve hoped and possibly even better in some cases, but ACL injuries can be difficult, they’re different for every person. We’ll get the medical experts around Kane as much as we can to help us make that decision in three weeks.”
Stead revealed the Black Caps would be open to including Williamson in the squad even if he wasn’t fit for the opening few games, but said that luxury would not extend to scenarios where he would only be fit for the knockout matches.
“That’s something we are talking about – if it’s the knockout stages then that might be too late, as that’s something that you may not even be there, but if it was earlier in the World Cup we’d definitely be considering it.”
Kane Williamson was player of the tournament in 2019. Photo / Photosport
Williamson, who was player of the tournament at the 2019 World Cup, has been back in the nets facing throwdowns as he slowly ramps up his rehab.
“He’s not facing bowlers yet but he’s basically doing everything else,” said Stead. “With the knee, we’re just being careful with how that twists, he’s still in that healing and rehab phase so it’s just getting that balance between pushing him as far as he can go but making sure we don’t cross that line and do more damage.
“He’s been extremely diligent, we couldn’t have asked for more from him in that space – it’s encouraging to see where he’s at and how he’s going, but that doesn’t promise that he’ll be part of this World Cup squad just yet.”
Williamson may be one of the only decisions left for the Black Caps selectors to make for the World Cup, with Stead saying that – more injuries aside – they’re close to having their favoured 15-man squad locked in for the event that starts on October 5.
“We’re pretty close to where we want to be with it, we’ve had a couple of major injuries across our squad already and who knows, more might happen and make things easier or harder for us.”
If Williamson isn’t available, Stead confirmed Tom Latham will take the reins as captain.
