Veteran New Zealand player Kane Williamson has returned to practice and is currently recovering from a knee injury that he sustained during the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL). However, New Zealand Cricket will consider including him in their 2023 ODI World Cup squad even if he misses the first few matches. Although he is far from making a return to the field now. Williamson was not included in the ODI squad for the upcoming four-match ODI series against England as well. But he will travel with the team to England to continue his recovery process on the sidelines.
“I think that’s something we are talking about at the moment. If it’s the knockout stages, I think that might be too late because you’re really saying something that you may or may not even be there, but if it was earlier in the World Cup we’d definitely be considering it,” Stead told reporters.“Obviously with the knee and the way it is we have to be careful with how that twists, so he’s still in that healing and rehab phase, so it’s getting that fine balance between pushing him as far as he can go but making sure we don’t cross that line and do more damage.”
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However, Kane Williamson’s last international appearance came in March 2023 during the home Test series against Sri Lanka as well. He smashed a sublime double century to help New Zealand record an innings win and conclude their 2021-23 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. Meanwhile, Tom Latham is currently leading New Zealand. And, Gary Stead opined on the volatile nature of ACL injuries and asserted that they are not keeping high hopes over Williamson playing the ODI World Cup as well.
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“Again it’s too early to know. Kane is working very much on a day-by-day, week-by-week process and we’ve been really clear and careful with him that we don’t look too far ahead and get expectations too big or not big enough at times. He’s progressed as we’ve hoped and possibly even better in some cases, but you know with ACL injuries that they can be difficult,” Stead concluded.
