Kane v Joe: Rival skippers
After all the highs and lows he’s experienced around the cricketing world in 2019, Kane Williamson was almost stumped by a simple question on his own back doorstep.
What will it be like to sleep in your own bed, a few hundred metres from where you’re playing a test match?
‘‘Yeah, I don’t know. A bit more familiar with the bed
. . . I’ll see my dog. It’s nice, it’s something different . . . I’ll let you know. I haven’t done it before.’’
No-one has, as Bay Oval becomes New Zealand’s ninth test venue when it hosts England for the first test today at 11am.
New Zealand’s captain plays his 27th test as skipper and 75th in all, just a few blocks from his Mt Maunganui home and the beach where he indulges his love of surfing. At Bay Oval where, so the story goes, he scored the ground’s first century for Bay of Plenty Under-19 soon after it opened in 2007.
Now he’s got a New Zealand record 20 test centuries, an average of 52 and a world ranking of No 3.
Williamson was relaxed and obliging enough to name his playing XI well ahead of time, with Lockie Ferguson’s omission the talking point. Then he shook hands with his friend and occasional Yorkshire team-mate Joe Root on the Bay Oval outfield as the skippers posed with the series trophy.
Williamson, 29, and Root, four months younger, have spent a lot more time together in Leeds than New Zealand’s beachfront playground, and both reunite carrying a hefty batting and leadership burden for their respective sides.
For Williamson you can add an injury cloud, having played a solitary one-hour innings of 26 for Northern Districts against Canterbury since the 1-1 test series draw in Sri Lanka in August. A niggly hip problem returned and meant two weeks of rest and rehab as the Black Caps lost the Twenty20 series 3-2 to England.
‘‘You never feel 100 physically as a sportsperson, you’re always dealing with different bits and pieces,’’ Williamson said. ‘‘The body feels good and in terms of preparation it’s hard to know what the perfect one is, having had the test series after the World Cup and a first-class game which was nice, albeit limited in terms of game time.
‘‘At the same time it’s about me trying to execute my plans as best I can and trying to contribute to the side and the plans we set to try and make a difference.’’
Add to that a mini slump in test cricket and he’ll walk out before an adoring home crowd with a little more on his shoulders.
In Sri Lanka he scored 0, 4 and 20 in Galle and Colombo. Not since the Black Caps’