New Zealand batter Kane Williamson is celebrating his 35th birthday on August 8, 2025. He has been under the spotlight in cricket since his U-19 days, when he led his team to the final of the U-19 Cricket
World Cup 2008, but eventually lost the game against the Virat Kohli-led Indian side. At the age of 20, Williamson made his Test debut for New Zealand in 2010 against India, where he scored a hundred. Soon after his debut he came to be regarded as one of the “Fab Four” batters of 2010s and 2020s, of whom the others were Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Joe Root. Around four years after his debut, Kane Williamson became the youngest New Zealand batter to score 3000 Test runs.
Among his best performances is his maiden Test double century in 2015, which helped a trailing New Zealand to dominate and eventually defeat Sri Lanka. The innings is regarded as a testament to his hunger for runs and batting time, as he appeared dissatisfied despite making 242 batting over ten hours. Capable of scoring at a brisk tempo, he is equally impactful in other formats apart from Test cricket as well. Kane Williamson was quickest batter in New Zealand and fifth fastest overall to 3000 runs. While playing for New Zealand, Kane Williamson has amassed 19,806 runs in 105 Tests, 13 ODIs, and 93 T20Is.
Kane Williamson’s tryst with ICC titles: ODI World Cup Finalist (2015, 2019) and WTC Winner (2021)
In the Cricket World Cup year of 2015, Kane Williamson made 1376 runs at an average of 57 and a strike rate just shy of 90. But in the tournament, he could not carry on that form as he scored 234 runs with 57 as his highest score and the Brendon McCullum-led team also lost the final against the pace attack of Australia consisting of Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, James Faulkner, and Josh Hazlewood. But he scaled new heights with the bat in the next Cricket World Cup in 2019.
Due to his match-winning hundreds against South Africa and West Indies and a pivotal knock of 67 against India in the semi-final, New Zealand reached the final again and lost again after tying the match and the super over, eventually losing to England on the rule of boundary count. For his performance with the bat (578 runs - fourth highest of the tournament) and exceptional captaincy, Kane Williamson was awarded as the player of the tournament. In the Cricket World Cup 2023, New Zealand were eliminated in the semi-final stage despite Williamson scoring 69 runs against the hosts India.
But it was under Williamson’s captaincy that New Zealand won their first ICC title after almost a decade of finishing so close. Williamson made a crucial unbeaten fifty to anchor the chase against Virat Kohli-led India in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2021 final. Later that year, New Zealand’s golden run continued when they made it to the final of the T20 World Cup against Australia, in which Kane Williamson scored a vital 85, but it went in vain as the team lost.
Williamson is often regarded as a batter who follows a coaching manual, but abiding by that manual also makes him an explosive T20 batter as well. While playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL, he was the New Zealand’s first and fourth overseas player to win the coveted Orange Cap, when he scored 735 runs in 2018 season, apart from winning the trophy twice in career, once for the aforementioned team in 2016, and then, for Gujarat Titans (GT) in 2016.