Kane Williamson, the captain of New Zealand, is now on the mend and made his comeback to the throwing circle on Tuesday. By doing so, he kept his slim chances of participating in the 50-overs World Cup in India later this year alive.
After sustaining a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during the Indian Premier League and then undergoing surgery in early April, the 32-year-old player’s participation at the World Cup is now in question.
Williamson took a video of himself hitting in the nets and uploaded it on Instagram with the message, “Nice to be back in the nets with the bat in hand for a few throws.”
Gary Stead, the coach of the New Zealand national rugby union team, is one of the individuals who has not given up hope that Williamson will compete in the showcase event that will take place in October and November.
In April, Stead was quoted as saying, “Our line around Kane, at the moment, is still that it’s unlikely that he will be available,” but “we certainly don’t want to rule out a person of his class and calibre, and the things he brings to this team, too early in case there is that chance still,” Stead said.
According to several sources in the New Zealand media, Williamson, who led his side all the way to the championship game of the 2019 World Cup, would still go to India, although in the position of a mentor.
In the first game of the tournament, which will take place on October 5 in Ahmedabad, New Zealand will take against England. This will be a repeat of the 2019 final, which England won due to an outdated boundary countback rule.