Kane Williamson Captaincy Records - Test, ODIs & T20Is

Kane Stuart Williamson once said, “Everyone is gifted, I guess, but you get some that seem exceptionally so. I'm not one of them." If he’d looked back at what he said years ago, he’ll have that same sweet smile on his face that he carries on the field. In a career stretching over a decade, Williamson is undoubtedly the modern-day great of the game. New Zealand’s all-time legend, Martin Crowe supported the view that till the time of his retirement, Kane Williamson would be regarded as New Zealand’s greatest batsman to have ever played the game!

Already measured as one of the most humble and classy cricketers, Williamson has changed the course of New Zealand cricket since he took up the captaincy in March 2016, soon after Brendon McCullum announced his retirement from international cricket.

Beginning with a great stint as the captain during the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup to leading the Kiwis to lift the inaugural World Test Championship, Kane has earned himself a stature to be compared to the best captain New Zealand has had, Stephen Fleming.

We have a closer look into the achievements and records that the Kiwi batsman holds as the skipper of the national side.

Kane Williamson Captaincy record in Tests

Williamson made his Test debut as the captain of New Zealand against Zimbabwe on 28th July 2016 in Bulawayo. In his first innings as skipper, Williamson went all guns blazing and just missed by 9 runs to complete a brilliant century, scoring 91 runs. New Zealand won the match with a margin of an innings and Kane made a great start to his Test captaincy career.

In the second and final match of the series, Kane covered up on his missed-out opportunity in the previous game and scored 113 runs. With this hundred, he became the thirteenth batsman to score a ton against all Test-playing nations. New Zealand ended up winning the series 2-0.

In December 2018, Williamson achieved the great feat of crossing 9000 rating points in the ICC Test batting rankings and became the first-ever Kiwi to do so. In the 2019 Test series played against Bangladesh, New Zealand registered their highest-ever Test score of 715 where Williamson struck a double hundred.

Williamson took New Zealand cricket to greater heights and he led from the front when it mattered the most. He was nominated for the ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade and the ICC Men’s Test Player of the Decade award.

Under his leadership, New Zealand had a brilliant home run, conquering almost all the teams in their backyard. In the 2017-18 series against England, Williamson became the fourth Kiwi captain to win a series against England. While in December, when New Zealand played against Pakistan in the U.A.E, the BlackCaps defeated Pakistan in a series after 49 years. Williamson was the difference between the two sides in the last match as he scored 89 and 139 in the two innings, and ensured a historic series win for New Zealand.

In the 2021 tour to England, Kane’s captaincy did the magic as the team pulled off a series win against the English team on their own soil, one of the toughest conditions to beat in World Test cricket.

2021 also saw a huge milestone in Kane’s captaincy career as he successfully took his side to win the inaugural ICC World Test Championship. This was the nation’s first-ever ICC trophy and Kane had a big role to play in it. In the final, they comfortably defeated India by 8 wickets.

Williamson has captained the side in 40 Test matches, out of which he has won 22 of them, and lost 10, while the rest were drawn. He has a win % of 55.

Kane Williamson Captaincy Records - (Test)

Kane Williamson Captaincy record in ODI

Kane played his first ODI match as captain way back in July 2012 against the West Indies. This move was only on for the series and didn’t turn out well. New Zealand lost the first 2 of the 3-match ODI series. However, they bounced back in the last one and Kane registered his first ODI win as the skipper.

From there, he captained a few games in 2014 and 2015 before he finally took the role full-time in 2016 after McCullum’s retirement.

Since then, he has done great work in backing his boys and the team has played exceptional cricket under his reign as captain. He was the backbone of New Zealand on their road to a second consecutive final of the World Cup in 2019. He remained a cool headed skipper in even the most difficult circumstances of the tournament, the most heart wrenching one being in the final when England won the match in the super over. Williamson emerged as the highest scoring skipper in a single World Cup after he made 578 runs in the 10 games. For his brilliant performance with the bat, he received the Player of the Tournament award and was also named the captain of the “Team of the Tournament” by the ICC and ESPNCricinfo.

New Zealand is currently ranked 2nd in the ICC ODI Team Rankings with 114 points which shows how well the team has played in the recent times under the captaincy of Kane Williamson.

Kane Williamson Captaincy record runs (ODI)

Kane Williamson Captaincy Record in ODI World Cup

Williamson captained the side in the ICC 2019 World Cup played in England and Wales. He took the side to the final of the tournament and was instrumental in their great run to finish as the runner-up.

Kane Williamson Captaincy record in T20

Williamson made his T20 debut as captain in the 2012 series against West Indies. He became the full-time skipper at the most crucial time in context of the T20 format with the World Cup in India round the corner. In his first run, he took the responsibility quite well, taking his side to the semi-final stage before getting knocked out by England. Kane left everybody impressed with his decisions which helped the side play on slow and turning pitches of India. He was He was named the captain of the “Team of the Tournament” by Cricbuzz and Cricinfo.

Kane then led the team in the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup and New Zealand went onto play their first-ever final of the cup. He put in all his efforts to bring the trophy home with a knock of 85 runs off 48 deliveries but it wasn’t enough as Australia defeated them by 8 wickets. Williamson stood as the side’s highest-run scorer with 216 runs in the competition.

This year, New Zealand have played good cricket, beating the hosts Australia by a big margin in the first match of the Super 12 and then a clinical performance against sri Lanka. Williamson’s New Zealand are amongst the top contenders to win the title this time around.

Kane Williamson Captaincy record runs (T20)

Kane Williamson Captaincy record in T20 world cup

Williamson has been one of the best captains in the T20 World Cup history. Along with the ongoing 2022 T20 World Cup, he has led the side in the previous two editions of the tournament. In the 2016 edition, he took the side till the semi-final stage and the team almost won it in 2021 but Australia beat them in the final for the championship.

This edition has been looking a promising one for the Kiwis with 2 wins out of the 3 games, and one ending in a no result. New Zealand are looking forward to finally with the silver and their skipper will be vital to make this come true.