The New Zealand batter has a system that insulates him from the make-or-break nature of his sport
Alagappan Muthu15-Mar-2023On July 15, 2019, Kane Williamson cracked a joke about still being able to crack a joke.He was standing in front of a group of journalists, all of whom were all but ready to drop the professional act and give him just the biggest hug.So Williamson defused the tension.Of all the things that make up this man, and we see very little of him beyond his artistry at the crease and his modesty on the mic, this is the most incredible one.Related
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The way he looks at big moments on the field and takes away their power.Then-New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern said the nation had all “aged” watching the Super Over. James Neesham sent out a PSA for kids not to take up sport: “Die at 60 really fat and happy.” Williamson understood the significance of it – of how close they were to becoming the first Black Caps team to win a World Cup – but he wouldn’t let it define him. Heck, he wouldn’t even give other people that opportunity. And so a press conference with the losing captain the day after he took part in the greatest ODI of all time turned into something oddly matter-of-fact.
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Williamson is staring at the big screen just like everybody else. If he is anxious, he is hiding it well. The replays are focused on his dive to get to the non-striker’s end. It’s uncomfortably tight.”He’s got him,” someone says in the commentary box. “He’s safe,” says someone else.The tension’s rising. Slow motion isn’t helping. And then comes the roar. The Hagley Oval crowd bursts into applause. Several of them are on their feet. They are all toasting a second Test match win for the ages in the space of two weeks. And yet the man who orchestrated them both celebrates with just a small, little smile.If ever there was a time to get carried away, it was this. And yet all he did was bow his head in sweet relief. Honestly, people open their mail with more excitement than Williamson winning a five-day match off its final ball.Kane Williamson, the calmness amid chaos•Joe Allison/Getty Images
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MS Dhoni introduced the word “process” into our world as a way to take his players – who are expected to be nothing less than perfect by over a billion taskmasters – out of their heads. It wasn’t necessarily revolutionary but it was coming from an authority figure who for some strange reason wasn’t so worried about the results. It was like sitting in class and hearing your teacher say exams don’t matter so long as you actually learn something. It was freeing.India give a lot of their power away to the game; players and fans alike treat it like it is the only thing that matters in their lives. And that’s neither helpful nor healthy. The greatest trick Dhoni ever pulled had nothing to do with sixes hit in the last over or trophies won out of nowhere. It was breaking all of cricket down and rebuilding it as a series of events that he and his men could control; a series of events that had power over.There is a New Zealand team that has to deal with such extremes, but it’s not the one Williamson plays for. The demands on him, the scrutiny on him, are kinder.
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A chase of 285 comes down to the last over. The equation is five off three. Pretty much everyone is out on the fence. Asitha Fernando is in the middle of an inspired spell, going nose-or-toes-nose-or-toes. The margin of error – for the batting side especially – is non-existent, which only means the potential for things to go wrong is at its peak.Williamson has a system that insulates him from this toxicity. A home that reminds him his value as a person doesn’t depend on his success as a sportsman. And a workplace that marks wins and losses in almost the same way – by getting together and having a beer.All of this gives him clarity and that clarity unleashes his genius.What happens when one of the best players in the world realises he doesn’t have to look back and feel haunted by the matches he could have won? That he can just take pleasure from the fact that he was good enough to be in those places.Based on the events in Christchurch, it puts Williamson in a state of mind where he can harness all his talent, all his hand-eye coordination and all his timing and hit a game-breaking boundary, beating not one but two deep points, even though they had a 50-metre head start on the ball and there was barely a gap between them; at best it was the length of a pitch. Power and precision don’t usually go so well together without help from a green screen.
“Just the calmness at which he does it”. Tim Southee reflects on Kane Williamson’s 121* at Hagley Oval. #NZvSL pic.twitter.com/7KE8H4SyT8
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