IPL fatigue: Williamson to curtail Yorkshire stint
After a neck injury suffered in the IPL ruled out Virat Kohli’s stint with Surrey, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson too will restrict his schedule with Yorkshire due to fatigue at the end of a sapping season in the T20 league.
New Zealand Cricket has stepped in due to concerns over managing the workload of their main batsman. Williamson, the Sunrisers skipper, has played in each of the team’s 15 games until Friday, scoring 685 runs with eight half-centuries, off 477 balls.
Williamson was due to play for a full season for Yorkshire, but NZC has now communicated to Yorkshire that his role would be reduced. Ahead of IPL 2018, Williamson was expected to play only a few games like last year. But SRH skipper David Warner’s ball-tampering ban led to the franchise appointing Williamson the skipper.
Yorkshire expressed disappointment, and director of cricket, Martin Moxon, said in a statement: “The club are disappointed by the reduced amount of cricket Kane will be available for, but he will still play a significant amount for us and we look forward to welcoming a player of his calibre back in due course.
“When Kane originally signed for us and New Zealand Cricket accepted the dates, it was thought that he wouldn’t play every game in IPL and that he wouldn’t be captain. But with David Warner getting banned, he became captain of Sunrisers and has consequently played every game, so New Zealand Cricket want him to have more of a rest.
“We’re frustrated, obviously, and counties are having to deal with this all the time.”
While NZ Cricket seems to have taken a proactive step on reducing Williamson’s workload, the same can’t be said about how BCCI deals with its players’ workload.
Kohli was ruled of his Surrey stint on Thursday with BCCI announcing that he would undergo rehabilitation for the neck injury he suffered during Royal Challengers’ penultimate league match against Sunrisers.
Kohli was keen to play County cricket to get used to seaming conditions ahead of India’s tour of England, and had been granted permission to skip the one-off game from
June 14 that will mark Afghanistan’s entry into the Test fold.
MUMBAI:
Squad: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Mahela Udawatte, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Janith Perera, Roshen Silva, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Lahiru Gamage, Kasun Rajitha, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, and Asitha Fernando.
Boys, even though I may not be around to battle the Windies while you do so my heart will always be with Team Sri Lanka.
D DE SILVA, In message to team