Kane Williamson
Kane Stuart Williamson (born 8 August 1990) is a New Zealand international cricketer and a former captain of the New Zealand national team. On 27 February 2023, Williamson became the all-time leading run-scorer for New Zealand in Test cricket.
A right-handed batsman and an occasional off spin bowler, he is widely regarded as one of the world’s best contemporary batsmen and one of the greatest New Zealand captains and batsmen of all time. Kane Williamson captained New Zealand to victory in the 2021 ICC World Test Championship final and to the finals of the 2019 Cricket World Cup and 2021 T20 World Cup. He was also a part of the New Zealand squad to finish as runners-up at the 2015 Cricket World Cup and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
He was also a part of the New Zealand squad to finish as runners-up at the 2015 Cricket World Cup and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
Williamson made his first-class cricket debut while still a schoolboy at Tauranga Boys’ College, in December 2007. He made his U-19 debut against the touring Indian U-19 team the same year and was named captain of the New Zealand U-19 team for the 2008 U-19 Cricket World Cup. He made his international debut in 2010.
Early life
Williamson was born on 8 August 1990 in Tauranga, in the Bay of Plenty region on the North Island of New Zealand. His father Brett was a sales representative who had played under-17 and club cricket in New Zealand and his mother Sandra had been a representative basketball player. He has a twin brother Logan, who is one minute younger than him. The brothers have three older sisters, Anna, Kylie and Sophie.
All three were accomplished volleyball players, and Anna and Sophie were in New Zealand age group teams. Williamson’s grandmother Joan Williamson-Orr served as mayor of Taupō. His first cousin Dane Cleaver has also played international cricket for New Zealand.
Williamson played senior representative cricket at the age of 14 and first-class cricket at 16. He attended Tauranga Boys’ College from 2004 to 2008, where he was head boy in his final year. He was coached by Pacey Depina who described Williamson as having “a thirst to be phenomenal – but not at anyone else’s expense.” He reportedly scored 40 centuries before he left school.
Domestic career
Northern Districts
Williamson made his debut for Northern Districts in 2007 at the age of 17, with whom he has remained for the duration of his New Zealand domestic career. He scored his first T20 hundred on 19 September 2014, making 101* in 49 balls to guide Northern Districts to a comfortable win against Cape Cobras in Champions League Twenty20 2014.
English county cricket
Williamson signed for Gloucestershire to play in the 2011 English county season. On 14 August 2013, he signed for Yorkshire for the rest of the season and subsequently signed to return for the 2014 season, when his side won the County Championship. He signed to return for the latter part of the 2015 season, but when incumbent overseas player Aaron Finch was not selected for the Australia ODI squad, Yorkshire ultimately chose to extend Finch’s deal in place of Williamson. He subsequently signed a deal for part of the 2016 season, and also returned for a part of the 2018 season.
In 2025, Middlesex announced that they would be signing him for the upcoming 2025 season, as well as playing for the London Spirit.
In February 2015, Kane Williamson signed for Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). He played for the side in the 2016 season, winning the title, and was retained for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. He captained the side in 2018, replacing David Warner.
Under Kane Williamson’s captaincy, Sunrisers Hyderabad finished runners-up and he was the season’s leading scorer with 735 runs. In IPL 2021, Kane took over the captaincy from David Warner in the middle of the season. He was retained by the franchise for the 2022 edition as the captain, but failed to perform, scoring one half-century. Ahead of the 2023 season, he was bought by the Gujarat Titans, but was injured in the first match of the season. He went on to play for the Titans for the 2024 season before being released and remained unsold for the 2025 season.
The Hundred
Birmingham Phoenix
In the 2021 The Hundred season, Kane Williamson was drafted for Birmingham Phoenix but withdrew because of an ongoing elbow injury.
London Spirit
In The Hundred 2025, Kane Kane Williamson became the first male to become a direct signing for London Spirit. He becomes the captain of the Spirit as well as playing for the host county Middlesex. He played all 8 games for Spirit, scoring 204 runs as the team won just 3 games, failing to qualify for the playoffs.
Other Tournaments
In 2011 and 2012, Kane Williamson played for Gloucestershire in the Friends Life T20. Across 17 matches, he scored 324 runs for the team.
Furthermore, he has played in the NatWest T20 Blast in 2014 and 2016 representing Yorkshire and scoring 302 runs across 12 matches with a strike rate of 118.89.
Kane Williamson has participated in the Vitality Blast in 2018 and 2025, representing Yorkshire and Middlesex respectively. As of August 2025, he has made 24 appearances in the tournament and has scored 676 runs.
Kane Williamson also played in the Caribbean Premier League in 2017 for the Barbados Tridents. He scored 172 runs in his season with the club and failed to hit any half-centuries or centuries.
Across January and February of 2025, Kane Williamson participated in the third season of the SA20, playing for Durban’s Super Giants. He scored 233 in his 8 games in South Africa at an average of 46.60 and strike rate of 118.87.
International career
Kane Williamson was 17 when he led the New Zealand Under-19 side in the World Cup in Malaysia in 2008. New Zealand reached the semi-final, where they lost to the eventual champions India. On 24 March 2010, Kane Williamson was named in the New Zealand Test squad for the second Test against Australia, but ultimately he did not play in the match.
Kane Williamson made his One-Day International debut against India on 10 August 2010. He was dismissed for a 9th ball duck. In his second match, he was bowled by Angelo Mathews for a second ball duck. He scored his maiden ODI century against Bangladesh on 14 October 2010 in Dhaka and became the youngest centurion in New Zealand’s cricket history. Due to his performance on the Bangladesh tour where New Zealand suffered a 4–0 whitewash, Kane Williamson was selected in the New Zealand Test squad for the tour of India that followed.
Kane Williamson made his Test cricket debut against India at Ahmedabad on 4 November 2010. In his first innings he scored 131 runs off 299 balls and became the eighth New Zealand player to score a century on Test debut.
Rising through the ranks
Kane Williamson scored 161* against West Indies in June 2014, his second century of the series and helped secure a rare away Test series victory for his side. He finished as the leading overall run scorer in the series with 413 runs, and was denied a double century only by rain, which encouraged skipper Brendon McCullum to declare in the interest of obtaining a result in the match. He was also reported for a suspect bowling action in April 2014, but was cleared in December 2014. He was also named as captain ahead of the ODI and Twenty20 series against Pakistan in December 2014 as McCullum was rested.
Kane Williamson scored 100* off 69 balls against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo, which at the time was the second fastest century by a New Zealander in a One-Day International. He also established one of the most potent top-order partnerships with Ross Taylor, with Williamson himself being the most prolific number-three batsman for the national side since former captain Stephen Fleming. As a fielder, his position is predominantly at gully.
In 2015, he started with 69 and 242* against Sri Lanka, with two catches in the field in a man-of-the-match performance. On 3 February 2015, he scored the 99th ODI century in New Zealand’s history, against Pakistan; Ross Taylor scored the 100th in the same match. He also scored over 700 runs before the 2015 Cricket World Cup in the first two months of the calendar year. On 17 June 2015 he became the fifth-fastest batsman and fastest New Zealander to score 3,000 runs, achieving it in just 78 innings. On 15 November 2015, Williamson and Taylor became the first pair of away batsmen to each score 2nd innings centuries at WACA Ground in Perth.
In December 2015, during the second Test against Sri Lanka, Kane Williamson broke the record for the most Test runs scored in a calendar year by a New Zealander, with 1172 runs. He also ended 2015 with 2692 runs, the highest total across all forms of international cricket for the year, and the third highest total in a single year.
Captaincy
In March 2016, Kane Williamson assumed the position of captain of New Zealand across all forms of cricket after the retirement of Brendon McCullum, beginning with the World T20I cup in India. He was named as captain of the ‘Team of the Tournament’ by ESPNcricinfo and Cricbuzz. He also picked up NZ Player of the Year, Test Player of the Year, and the Redpath Cup for top batsman in first-class cricket for the second year in a row.
In August 2016, during the Test series against Zimbabwe, Williamson became the thirteenth batsman to score a century against all the other Test playing nations. He completed this in the fewest innings, the quickest time from his Test debut, and became the youngest player to achieve this feat.
Williamson set a new record for scoring the most centuries by a New Zealand batsman in Tests, with his 18th, in March 2018 when he scored 102 against England at Auckland. Later that year, he scored his 10,000th run in first-class cricket, batting for the English side Yorkshire in the 2018 County Championship. On 8 December 2018, he scored his 19th Test century in the deciding 3rd game in the Pakistan away series.
On 7 December 2018, Williamson became the first player from New Zealand to cross 900 rating points in the ICC Test batting rankings. During the 2019 Test series against Bangladesh, Williamson scored 200 not out as New Zealand posted a team total of 715, their highest ever in a Test innings. He also became the fastest New Zealand player to score 6,000 runs in Test cricket.
International centuries
Main article: List of international cricket centuries by Kane Williamson
As of March 2025, Williamson has scored 33 Test and 15 ODI centuries. His highest score in Test is 251 and 148 in ODIs. He is yet to score a century in T20Is, his highest in that format being 95.
Personal life
He bowls and bats right-handed but writes left-handed. Williamson has three children, two daughters and a son, with his wife Sarah Raheem, whom he first met in 2015. During the New Zealand vs Pakistan 2014 ODI series, Williamson donated his entire match fee for all five ODIs to the victims of the 2014 Peshawar school massacre.
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