New Zealand Cricket has given the injury update of the player Kane Williamson and will be missing the opening match in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023.
Williamson to miss World Cup Opener games against England
The New Zealand team has recently completed their three-match ODI series against Bangladesh with the victory in the third ODI match. With the squad for the World Cup announced, the team management announced the return of the Williamson for the marquee tournament.
Later they revealed that Kane Williamson will be playing in the warmup matches and will be missing the opening match against defending champions England. Williamson was named in the 15-member squad for the World Cup despite being sidelined from action due to a knee injury since March.
The New Zealand cricketer Kane Williamson has been out of action since March. But he travelled with the side to England in a bid to keep working on his fitness.
Williamson has a total of 6554 ODI runs with 13 centuries with an average of 47.83 due to which he gets the fifth position in the list of all-time run scorers for New Zealand in ODI format.
He will be playing the role of a specialist batter in the warm-up match against Pakistan. The right-handed batter sustained a knee injury while attempting a catch during Gujarat Titans’ opening match against CSK at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
“Williamson will play as a batsman-only in today’s first warm-up match against Pakistan in Hyderabad, with the aim of batting and fielding in Monday’s second and final warm-up against South Africa in Trivandrum,” NZC said in an official statement.
“Right from the start we’ve taken a long-term view on Kane’s return to play. His recovery is tracking well and it’s now a matter of making sure he can cope with the rigours and intensity of international cricket. We’ll continue to take a day-by-day approach to Kane’s rehabilitation and certainly won’t be putting any pressure on him to return before he is ready,” Stead stated in an official statement by NZC.
The Blackcaps will be facing South Africa on October 2 at Greenfield International Stadium before the World Cup 2023. England will be playing against England in the first match of the ODI World Cup 2023 on October 5 at Narendra Modi Stadium.
New Zealand squad for World Cup 2023
Kane Williamson (c), Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitch Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Will Young.
