Top moments of Kane Williamson’s tenure as New Zealand Test captain after he steps down

The cricket world was taken aback in the early hours of Thursday as New Zealand cricket announced that Kane Williamson is stepping down from the captaincy role of the team in the Test format of the game. This brought an end to Williamson’s six-year tenure as the Test captain of New Zealand, during which he became one of the most acclaimed cricketers to lead the team. While Tim Southee takes over the responsibility of leading the Kiwi Test squad going ahead in the ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 cycle, here’s a look at the top moments of Kane Williamson’s time as the Test skipper of New Zealand.

After taking over the role in April 2016, New Zealand faced the No. 1 ranked team Pakistan in New Zealand, in what was Williamson’s first home series as a skipper. The Kiwis ended up winning the 1st Test by eight wickets before, sealing a dramatic 139-run victory in the 2nd Test and whitewashing the home series. This was the first Test series win for New Zealand against Pakistan since 1985. 

New Zealand won the two-match Test series against England by 1-0 in 2018 after winning the first test by an innings and 49 runs, which was followed by a draw. While this was the first Test series win against England since 1999, later that year they won their first away series against Pakistan since 1969. Pakistan were defeated 1-2 by New Zealand in the Test series in December 2018.

Williamson led NZ to the inaugural ICC World Test Championship title

After losing to Australia by 0-3 in the away series, New Zealand defeated India in 2020 by 2-0 at home, while the Indian side were ranked No. 1 in the Test rankings. Going ahead in the 2020-21 season, New Zealand is required to win the remaining four matches of the ICC World Test Championship 2019-21 cycle against West Indies and Pakistan to qualify for the final. They ended up winning the four matches and sealed their place against India in the inaugural ICC WTC final.

The pinnacle of Williamson’s career came in June of 2021 when they defeated India to clinch the ICC World Test Championship title. During his time as the Kiwi captain, Williamson scored 3331 runs at an average of 57.43 in 65 innings and also hit 14 half-centuries and 11 centuries. His average is the highest ever registered by a Test captain for New Zealand.