Jason Pine: We were lucky to have Kane Williamson
About this episode
Jason Pine discusses Kane Williamson's unexpected retirement from international cricket and its implications for New Zealand's cricket future.
Kane Williamson has pulled stumps, retiring from international cricket. The big question is, why now? Mid-series in England, with a mouth-watering test schedule over the next seven months, including a four-test tour of Australia —the one unconquered frontier for this NZ test team— and on the cusp of joining a very exclusive group of cricketers to have scored 10 thousand test runs. Why would Kane Williamson retire now? Firstly, he's never been motivated by his personal numbers. I don't think he could tell you how many test runs he's scored, but I reckon he might be able to tell you about the test victories he's been a part of. That's where he differed from the only other player who could challenge him as our greatest ever – Sir Richard Hadlee. Paddles was tremendously stats-driven, and his quest to reach personal milestones was to the immense benefit of New Zealand. The fact he wanted to achieve milestones and chase records helped the teams he played in achieve amazing things. Two very different players. Two very different approaches. Two equally effective methods. But Kane Williamson wouldn't have thought to himself, "If I hang around, I…
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