Kane Williamson: “I definitely want to play all three forms”

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New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has made it clear that he wants to keep representing his country in all three formats.

Williamson’s comments come after former New Zealand pace bowler Simon Doull questioned whether the 27-year-old and head coach Mike Hesson should be part of the Black Caps’ Twenty20 set-up.

Doull pointed out that Williamson should only be in the side as an opening batsman or be removed from the side altogether.

While Williamson has spoken to Doull about his remarks, the Tauranga native insisted that he has a burning desire to keep playing all three formats.

“I’d quite like to play,” Williamson was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “I spoke to Simon afterwards, he wanted to go for a coffee. So we caught up, and I’ve known Simon for a long time and he wanted to clarify a few of those points because he didn’t believe they came across in the right way.

“He’s looking at volume of cricket, bringing new players into the international game and there’s sense that he makes, but at the same time from a personal perspective T20 cricket is so prevalent in the international and domestic game and you play a lot more of it nowadays, and it’s something you want to be a part of.

“I definitely want to play all three forms, without a doubt, it’s a challenge I look forward to. But at the same time, as we’ve seen throughout the summer already, guys have had time off, they’ve missed a few games for those reasons and it’s a balancing act moving forward because the volume of cricket seems to increase every year.”

Williamson has struggled in Twenty20 Internationals since January 2017 as he has been averaging 18.60. Furthermore, in the ongoing T20 tri-series, which also involves Australia and England, the New Zealand skipper has failed to have an impact with the bat as he scored eight runs off 21 balls in his side’s loss to Australia.

“Not as good as I would have liked,” Williamson admitted. “But at the same time it’s the nature of the game, that you’re wanting more and more. I’m looking to improve all the time, trying to contribute as much as I can for the team and that’s my focus.

“Don’t get me wrong, I would like a lot more runs, but at the same time you don’t want that to get in the road of what you’re trying to achieve, which is your gameplan facing each ball as best you can and knowing that if you do put your trust in that, that’s when the runs come.

“You take risks in T20 cricket sometimes it doesn’t come off and it came be frustrating but it is going out and playing in the right style to help move the team forward. When you do take that approach and you do score some runs, that’s when you help the team, rather than perhaps thinking about yourself too much and how many runs you might want.”

New Zealand have added Hong Kong-born Mark Chapman and Tim Seifert to their squad, and Williamson admitted that the uncapped duo deserve their call-ups to the national team.

“Tim’s a player that can score all around the ground, packs a punch and hits the ball a long way… it was a really tough decision because Tommy [Blundell] came in and offers so much to the group every time he is involved,” Williamson said. “But it was purely a balance and a role-type decision and that’s why Timmy comes into the fold and it’s a really exciting opportunity for himself and Mark to make their debuts for New Zealand and come out and play their natural game, which they’ve been doing so well in the domestic T20 comps.”

With New Zealand aiming to bounce back from their loss against Australia when they take on England in Wellington on Tuesday, Williamson admitted that the 10-day break has been extremely beneficial for all the players.

“T20 is fickle, so it’s important we don’t chase the win, we chase how we want to be playing cricket,” Williamson said. “That’s where we put our focus, we’ve said it all along.

“We’ve had a couple of losses in a row, which hasn’t been what we’ve wanted but we’ve just been looking at how we’ve been playing and how we want to try and improve, and when we do that’s when the results happen for us. So it’s important we don’t get ahead of ourselves.”