And so another one of the Fab Four exits the Test arena. Kane Williamson follows Virat Kohli in hanging up his whites, leaving only Joe Root and Steve Smith remaining.
With the landscape of the sport changing so quickly, it is not a stretch to wonder if such an era of Test batting will be replicated again.
Compared to the rest of the illustrious quartet, Williamson was an outlier. New Zealand do not play as many Tests as England, India or Australia. His career haul would have been much greater if he had the opportunities of the other three.
Only last week, in the days leading up to the first Test against England, Williamson said he was “towards the back end” of his career, giving no indication that this decision was close.
When asked about the prospect of reaching 10,000 Test runs, he said he was “not in the game” for personal milestones. “When the day comes, it comes,” were his words. Instead, Williamson ends an agonising 485 runs short.
If Martin Crowe is the godfather of New Zealand batting, then Williamson picked up the mantle and became the most prolific of all the Black Caps. Playing late with soft hands, Williamson’s ability to somehow guide any delivery to the third-man boundary appeared to defy geometry.
Incredibly modest, there was a famous moment at the end of the 2019 World Cup final, when Williamson endured the heartbreak of being the losing captain in perhaps the greatest game of cricket ever played. He was told he had been named player of the tournament and could not hide his disbelief.
Two years later, it was Williamson who led New Zealand to their redemption, when the Kiwis were crowned the inaugural world Test champions, with victory over India in Southampton.
Back to Lord’s, and the build-up to the first Test, ultimately Williamson’s last. In doing a round of media interviews, he said he was being held up from getting his hands on a famous Lord’s lunch. When he finally was done with the press, Williamson was delayed further by a routine drugs test.
He never did get to sit down to that lunch and now there will be no more international runs, either.
