New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson answered all the fitness-raising questions before the T20 World Cup, called the hamstring injury a “minor” one.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson on Thursday cleared the questions on his hamstring injury for the Black Caps T20 World Cup opener against Pakistan on October 26, said that the injury is a minor one.
A day after New Zealand Head Coach Gary Stead expressed his confidence in the availability of the skipper, Williamson also jumped in with optimism to clarify his availability for the WC opener.
The shortest format tournament is set to start from October 17.
“Minor, (it’s) okay, progressing well. So, there are no complaints,”
he responded to a query during a conference call with media arranged by the ICC.
Talking about the preparations for the World Cup, Williamson said that it is good to have a former Kiwi pacer, Shane Bond on his side. Bond will work specifically with the National team’s spinners during the tournament.
“With all his experience he has had from around the world and also particularly in this part of the world (UAE) with Mumbai (Indians in the IPL), he is very good at what he does,”
Williamson said.
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…he will assist our bowling coach and help in any way that he can, so he will be there around the group anyway, he is a lot of fun,”
he added.
Bond, who has joined the squad as the fourth coach is assisting bowling coach Shane Jurgensen and will also work with the team’s spinners.
He has been the bowling coach of five-time IPL winner, Mumbai Indians. New Zealand who has just won the inaugural ICC Test Championship event has always entered into the ICC events as an underdog tagline but Williamson does not care about it.
“I mean the tags are tags. Everybody has different ones, so it is fine…there are match-winners throughout and anyone can beat anyone on the day, so it is a pretty exciting prospect for the viewers, no doubt,”
he said.
According to Williamson, making adjustments quickly is important in events like the T20 World Cup, when sides face different opposition at different venues,”
he said.
“…it is a pretty short tournament, so you want to hit the ground running and try and get a bit of momentum early. In these sort of events, when you play different opposition, every sort of three days at a different venue, there are some adjustments to make quite quickly. “
…it is great to be here to join up with the New Zealand team and a lot of exciting about the group and getting involved,”
Williamson added.