New Zealand head coach Rob Walter has spoken out about his and the team management’s discussions with veteran cricketer Kane Williamson regarding his availability to play for the country during the forthcoming home summer. Williamson, along with a few other players, is now on a casual contract with New Zealand Cricket.
Walter felt certain that Kane Williamson will play for the Black Caps in the future.
However, negotiations about the matter were understood to be ongoing with the former New Zealand captain. Walter admitted that a player of Williamson’s stature deserved a fair discussion with the board about how he wanted to plan his cricketing calendar. He also acknowledged Williamson’s desire to play for the national team.
“Kane, we’re still in conversations as to what the summer is going to look like. He will play, no doubt about that. Just what and where is still in discussion. 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,” stated Walter.
“Kane is one of those 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,” he added.
The Wellington-born cricketer previously missed the tour of Zimbabwe in order to play county cricket and the Men’s Hundred in the United Kingdom. Later, he was also unavailable for New Zealand for their three-match T20I series against Australia at home.
Speaking of the Kiwis, they will next take on England in a six-match white-ball series which is set to comprise three T20Is followed by as many ODIs. The West Indies will then visit New Zealand for an all-format series across November and December.
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