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Kane Williamson is back with the Black Caps for their Test series against Pakistan after missing the second Test against the West Indies while welcoming a daughter.
It’s not often that you see Kane Williamson stumped, but a simple question made him fight for an answer on Christmas Eve, before the Boxing Day test against Pakistan.
When was the last time the Black Caps captain celebrated Christmas at his home in the Bay of Plenty, as he will this year, with that game at the Bay Oval on Mount Maunganui?
It wasn’t last year when he and his teammates were in Melbourne, taking a beating from Australia in their annual party of the holiday period. And it wasn’t in 2018 when they last staged a Boxing Day test of their own against Sri Lanka in Christchurch.
The answer, though it eluded him, was probably in 2017, when he was allowed a week off as the Black Caps completed an ODI series against the West Indies that included a match on Boxing Day in Christchurch.
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But he would be right to scratch his head, because Saturday’s game at his home will be his sixth time working on Boxing Day in the past seven years, due to the inevitable clash between the holiday period and the peak of the cricket season. .
NZC
Black Caps captain Kane Williamson returns to training after the birth of his first child.
The positive side this time is that he is not traveling, something that is very convenient considering that he is still in his first weeks as a father, after welcoming his first child, a daughter, along with his wife Sarah to early december.
Williamson said Thursday that he was still “learning the ropes” when it came to parenting and was looking forward to spending Christmas with the family before heading to work the day after.
“Trying out Boxing Day at home is really special and so is having Christmas at home.
“It’s a bit of a different feeling when you have Christmas and you’re in a hotel room somewhere and it will be really nice to spend with the family this year and I know almost all the kids have their families around to do that. “
Williamson missed the second test of the Black Caps against the West Indies at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, after he decided to stay in Tauranga with his wife on the eve of their daughter’s arrival.
He had played a great hand in his victory in the first test, achieving 251, his highest score in the test, but they did well without him, as they secured a win by one inning and 12 runs and a clean sweep of the two games. . Serie.
“It’s always a mixed observation, although I had other things on my mind, which was great,” said Williamson.
“You miss guys when you’re used to playing with each other, but then it was very, very nice to see them play so well and get through a series of difficult periods on a sports ground.
“It’s important that we re-evaluate and see where we need to be on a new surface and against a strong side in Pakistan.”
The Black Caps have a choice to make as they celebrate Christmas Friday: whether to stick with a full attack and play Daryl Mitchell in place of the all-rounder, or bring in the all-rounder Mitchell Santner, who took three wickets. and made his only test of the century at Bay Oval in the only previous test on the field, against England last November.
