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New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. (Photo: ANI)
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, who is yet to play a game since sustaining an injury, opened up about the set of challenges he is facing while trying to get fit for the Kiwis first encounter in the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 against England. Williamson was deemed to be an unlikely participant in this year’s World Cup when he ended up hurting his knee while fielding during the opening match of the Indian Premier League 2023 in March.
“Not so much the sprinting; more the slowing actually. From sprinting to braking, and a little bit of change of direction. But it’s all been part of the plan, introducing it towards the end of the recovery. Having said that, there’s still obviously time to go with the overall part of it, and keep trying to bank on good days because the rule’s pretty much helpful in terms of just moving forward with it,” Williamson said as quoted from ICC.
“It’s working through those warm-up games to get as much out of it as I can, personally and as a team, without sort of bothering too much. There is a strong desire to basically be involved in those as much as I can; we’ve got two of them before our first competition game. And basically it’s just wanting to progress (with) what I am doing now – the running, the fielding, and also time in the middle with the bat. The load is going to keep increasing, so there is a little bit of an unknown. But it has felt pretty good really in the last few weeks. I’m hoping it continues to feel like that,” he said.
New Zealand will play their first practice game on September 29 at the Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium behind closed doors.
#WATCH | Telangana: New Zealand Cricket team arrives at Hyderabad airport, ahead of the World Cup scheduled to be held between October 5 to November 19, in India. pic.twitter.com/8UmOQL5KKE
— ANI (@ANI) September 27, 2023
Cricket latest Blacks Caps team arrives in Hyderabad ahead of Pakistan warm-up game
The New Zealand cricket team arrived at Hyderabad airport on Wednesday night ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 scheduled to be held between October 5 to November 19 in India. Pakistan cricket team have also landed in India on Wednesday since their last visit in 2012-13 for a bilateral series.
New Zealand will start their World Cup campaign with a practice match against Pakistan on Friday. A total of 10 teams will be vying for the coveted World Cup trophy in the 13th edition of the marquee event. India qualified by virtue of being hosts while New Zealand, England, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa progressed from the Super League.
The biggest men’s event of the cricket calendar will span 48 matches across 10 venues, commencing on October 5 with defending Champions England taking on the runners-up of the previous edition New Zealand.
New Zealand squad: 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