Kane Williamson takes paternity leave as well, NZ coach says 'cricket not as important'

Kane Williamson is soon to become a father as his partner Sarah Raheem will be giving birth to the cricketer's child.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is expected to take paternity leave as his first child is expected to be born later this month. New Zealand cricket team head coach Gary Stead commented on missing the services of his star batsman, who is likely to take paternity leave. He goes on to say how sometimes "other things are much more important"  and how he is perfectly fine with the batsman missing 'a few matches'.

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The NZ coach spoke with the press after the Kiwis' astounding win against West Indies recently. The Kiwis defeated the Caribbean side pretty comfortably registering a win by an innings and 134 runs in the first of the 2 Test matches.

Stead speaks on Williamson paternity leave

ESPNcricinfo has quoted the New Zealand coach saying that in a worst case scenario, Williamson will only miss some matches. As a dad, as a parent, one gets that opportunity once in their lives for witnessing their (first) child's birth. At the end of the day, they play cricket but such other things are much more important.

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Paternity leaves seem to be the latest trend in the cricketing fraternity as the Kohli paternity leave news creates headlines till date as the Indian team captain will return home to be with his wife for the birth of his child after the 1st Test match in Australia. Stead went to speak on how the New Zealand team will cope with Williamson's unavailability and replace him in the team.

Will Young, who made his international debut during the first Test, is expected to act as the skipper’s "natural replacement". Young didn’t have a promising start to international cricket as the batsman could only contribute 5 runs in New Zealand's mammoth 519 runs that the hosts put up on board before declaring their innings.

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The New Zealand head coach also spoke on the rise of other youngsters in the team. He pointed out how players like Kyle Jamieson has performed well and eased off the pressure from the team management. Stead spoke about how the all-round performance of Kyle Jamieson in the absence of Colin (de Grandhomme) has given him a potential option of looking at things in a different way.

He adds how Kyle Jamieson's batting has been great, but it's not at par or on the same level as of Colin de Grandhomme category yet. However, he guesses that it is something the NZC will hope the player will look to improve on and take positive strides in the future.

Speaking on the teams’ overall performance, Stead said that it was very clinical performance throughout considering that they lost the toss and get inserted as there's always a few nerves about how much the wicket will do. He felt that the pitch played really well throughout with good bounce and that was pleasing for the team.

Williamson 251 knock takes the match away from WI

The New Zealand coach concluded the talks by speaking on New Zealand’s big win at Hamilton and the performance of Kane Williamson 251 and how he leads the New Zealand innings from the front. He spoke about how special the skipper's innings was.

Stead mentioned how Williamson displayed skills, temperament and patience all in one innings. He adds how New Zealand's partnerships are built around the batsman, who was the reason New Zealand managed to get that mammoth total onboard which put them in a position of strength.

New Zealand wrapped up the match within 4 days and will walk into the second Test brimming with confidence. New Zealand vs West Indies 2nd Test is scheduled to start from December 11 onwards. After the Test match, New Zealand is scheduled to play Pakistan for 3 more T20Is starting on December 18 onwards.

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