New Zealand captain Kane Williamson scored a half-century against Pakistan in their first warm-up fixture of the ICC Cricket World Cup in Hyderabad on Friday.
The sight of Williamson nearing full fitness must have come as a sight of big relief for the New Zealand contingent considering his leg was heavily strapped in the lead up this game and that he hobbled between the wickets at the start of his innings.
That Williamson has managed to fly down to India for the marquee event is a success in itself since at one point there was a real possibility that he may end up missing the entire world cup after tearing his ACL during the opening match of IPL 2023.
Williamson played only as a batter against Pakistan and is expected to both bat and field in New Zealand’s second warm-up fixture to be played on Monday.
The 33-year-old, who will miss the World Cup opener, said his knee held up really well.
“Just great to get through some batting out in the middle and be part of a match, which was really nice and it (knee) held up pretty well,” Williamson was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“(The knee) a little bit of icing afterwards but it’s all part of the process. Yeah, it wasn’t a reality certainly five months ago and been quite fortunate with some of that recovery and to be named in the squad is really exciting for me and just really looking forward to getting out there again. It was nice to do that today,” he added.
New Zealand made short work of target of 346 set by Pakistan which they chased down comfortably in 43.4 overs for a five-wicket win.
“It was largely pretty good, which was pleasing. Nice to sort of build on that. It was a fantastic hit-out obviously. Pakistan are an outstanding side. I mean both teams were trying to get what they wanted out of it, in terms of bowlers getting overs they needed and time in the legs. So, it’s an exercise, but also nice to compete and do all those things,” Williamson said of the contest.
“As a bowling unit and batting unit, plenty to take away from it. There’s always things to work on and it was a great batting performance today. It was a really good surface and it’s nice that we were able to put together partnerships and get time in the middle,” he added.
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