Cricket: Kane Williamson returns with Black Caps after leaving training to be with his pregnant wife

Gary Stead is confident that Kane Williamson will be available for the second Test against the West Indies after the Black Caps captain missed training to be with his pregnant wife.

Williamson revealed that he and his wife Sarah Raheem were expecting their first child during the series’ first match last week and that the due date was mid to late December, right in the middle of a busy cricket summer.

Williamson had traveled back to his hometown of Tauranga to attend an appointment with the midwife and backup hitter Devon Conway had been recruited as a cover.

However, the Black Caps announced that Williamson will return from Tauranga later today to meet with the test team in Wellington, easing fears that the world’s number two hitter would not be in the second test. Subsequently, Conway was released to fly to Nelson to join New Zealand A to face West Indies A in a four-day match.

Stead has spoken with Williamson and is confident that he will be available to play in the second round that begins at Basin Reserve on Friday.

While today’s training session was not crucial in terms of the team’s overall preparations, optional and indoors due to the rain in Wellington, the possible loss of Williamson would have been a huge blow to the Black Caps.

Williamson scored 251, his third century double in test cricket, as part of a winning performance by the Black Caps in the first game of the West Indies series and is in very good shape ahead of tours against Pakistan and Australia during the rest of the summer.

Despite the possible disruption caused by his absence, Stead said there is a contingency plan in place for what would be a milestone in Williamson’s life.

“At worst, Kane loses some games,” Stead told the media Monday. “As a parent, as a parent, you only get that chance once in your life to be there for the birth of your (first) child and I know it’s important to Kane too.

“At the end of the day we play cricket and other things are much more important.”

“It’s a very exciting time in anyone’s life and it certainly is in mine,” Williamson said of impending fatherhood.

If Williamson loses time, Stead has indicated that Will Young, who made his test debut last week, was the “natural replacement” for the skipper.

Meanwhile, the Black Caps got more good news in the form of BJ Watling’s full recovery from a hamstring injury and will be back on the sidelines.

Tom Blundell will open the batting order with Tom Latham and Will Young will leave the starting eleven, except for the absence of Williamson. A decision will be made tomorrow morning on which off-roader, Darryl Mitchell or Mitchell Santner, will make the starting team.

The second test is scheduled to begin Friday at 11 a.m. at the basin reserve, where today’s rain is forecast to clear for the full five days of play.