Rob Walter is in no rush to pin Kane Williamson down to a firm schedule for the home season, preferring instead to let his captain take a bit more time. The head coach, who has dealt with a fair few player-availability puzzles already this year, reckons Williamson has earned that courtesy.
“Kane, we’re still in conversations as to what the summer is going to look like,” Walter said after the 2–1 defeat to Australia. “He will play, no doubt about that. Just what and where is still in discussion.”
Williamson holds a casual New Zealand Cricket (NZC) contract, the looser arrangement allowing him to dip in and out of certain series. He skipped the recent Zimbabwe trip in favour of county cricket and The Hundred, then sat out the Australia T20Is altogether. Next up are England – three T20Is and three ODIs from 18 October – followed by an all-format visit from West Indies in November. Exactly where Williamson drops in remains open.
“I think the reality is we’re dealing with all the guys on casual contracts, actually in different positions from a playing point of view,” Walter continued. “Kane is one of those [who deserve time] and he deserves the opportunity to sit and talk about what the rest of his year will look like. But I keep coming back to the most important thing, [which] is that he wants to play for his country, and so nutting out exactly what that looks like can take an extra week or two, but surely, he deserves that.”
While those talks play out, the medical bulletin is mixed. Finn Allen (foot) and Adam Milne (ankle) have already been ruled out of the England series. Lockie Ferguson (hamstring) and Glenn Phillips (groin) are doubtful, though staff will leave the decision as late as practical. There is better news on Mitchell Santner, who missed Australia with a knee niggle, and on Rachin Ravindra. The all-rounder’s nasty collision with the practice-ground boundary hoarding forced him to withdraw late from the last series, yet early signs point to him being ready for England.
Walter is not fretting about the lack of a settled line-up with a World Cup on the horizon. “I think we don’t live in an ideal world and so that’s part and parcel of it,” he said, before recalling another campaign. “I’ve been part of a World Cup campaign [with South Africa] where the team assembled at its full strength three days before our first game and that team managed to make a final.”
The coach’s bigger focus lies in maintaining a stable environment rather than ticking off squad lists months out. “For me, it’s just the way it works. I think what’s more important is the environment and the team culture that sort of assimilates together when it needs to. We do know that by the back end of the India series [in January] prior to the World Cup, that’s when our full World Cup squad will be together,” he noted.
“For me, as long as the guys are playing competitive cricket, that’s important, and almost everyone has been part of the environment at some point so I would assume that they can fit seamlessly back into it.”
Competition for spots is tightening all the same. Tim Robinson made a timely hundred against Australia after Ravindra’s late scratching, pressing his claim for a top-order berth. Jimmy Neesham’s four-for in the third match underlined the depth among the seam-bowling all-rounders. If everyone is fit in February, the selectors will have to make a couple of awkward calls, especially among the quicks and the top three.
For now, Williamson’s availability remains the largest moving part. Walter’s stance is straightforward: the 34-year-old has never hidden his desire to play for New Zealand, so a little patience costs nothing. The coach is happier ironing out the finer points now than scrambling later.
Not ideal, perhaps, but that is modern international cricket – and Walter sounds comfortable living with the uncertainty.
