Kane Williamson

[Hurricane]

I think his point was moreso about his personality than his actual batting approach. Bowlers -- particularly fast bowlers -- gear themselves up for the big personal battles. Williamson is too humble to get involved in that crap, he just bats, so it'd be harder for an emotion-driven bowler to get into the contest and focus on the enormity of his wicket.

I give you 99 out of 100 and Dan 40 out of a 100. You lose one mark because your batting approach is just as much a part of the message you send to the bowlers as your swagger out to the middle or arrogant Dean Jones like comments after the match.

For example - I once blasted the opening bowler second ball of the match one bounce for four over mid on. He hated me for the rest of the match.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Williamson won't take the game away from you. He'll just steal your wallet, keys and tie your shoes together before you even notice then pick the game off the floor when you fall on your face

 

[Dan]

I think his point was moreso about his personality than his actual batting approach. Bowlers -- particularly fast bowlers -- gear themselves up for the big personal battles. Williamson is too humble to get involved in that crap, he just bats, so it'd be harder for an emotion-driven bowler to get into the contest and focus on the enormity of his wicket.

Yeah, and the "you don't think Williamson can hurt you" in my post was referring to that.

You have Baz blazing away down one end and, presumably, feeding off picking fights with ****s. Then down the other you have good ol' KW who's chilling there working his ones and twos and having, at the worst, a modest, self-deprecating chat with the slips cordon.

With all their energies focused on removing the icing, the bowlers completely miss that there's now a big ****ing lump of sponge looming over their heads. And by the time they realise, it's too late.

 

[Flem274*]

The test everything changed? Check out that average coming to the crease.

What I love about Kane's game the most is his ability to have edges often fall short with his soft hands. He makes just as many mistakes as any batsman, he just has a way to escape the consequences. On the slow, turgid pitches you see sometimes the only way he's ever going to get out is holing out, randomly missing a straight one or going for a quick single with Ross the Boss.

 

[Cabinet96]

Amazing that even with a ton on debutt he didn't even make 1,000 runs in his first two years. Feels like he could do it in a series these days.

South Africa ton in 2012 must be considered pretty important too.

Edit: Just checked and it took him 18 matches to get 1,000 runs. Last 1,000 have come in 7.

 

[Howsie]

Kane Williamson named Wisden almanack's leading cricketer of 2015 | Stuff.co.nz

All hail King Kane. Must be the youngest ever named by quite a distance too.

 

[The Battlers Prince]

Yayyyy go Big Daddy Kane

 

[91Jmay]

I'd be amazed if Sachin wasn't a younger winner.

Ben Stokes on the very same list is also younger.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

I'd be amazed if Sachin wasn't a younger winner.

Ben Stokes on the very same list is also younger.

We're not talking about the mere top 5. We're talking about the Wisden Leading Cricketer of the year (TM)

 

[TheJediBrah]

3 Kiwis, 1 Aus and 1 Englishman in the list

good job kiwis

Pretty sure the Englishman (Bairstow) was just there because he's English and it's Wisden (not exactly sure how it works tbh) so whether he should be as celebrated as the others is debatable I guess, but deserves to be acknowledged nonetheless

 

[91Jmay]

We're not talking about the mere top 5. We're talking about the Wisden Leading Cricketer of the year (TM)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisden_Leading_Cricketer_in_the_World

Garry Sobers won it as a 22 year old and he was the first and only person I checked so I suspect there are many more.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

So why the mention of Ben Stokes, who never won this award?

 

[The Battlers Prince]

I'm overall happy with the Wisden 5, Bairstow looked great with his keeping and if he's scored that many in County it's hard to go past him for mine. Stokes has bowled and batted reasonably for a while now and that 258 was worth it.
McCullum has ignited interest in all forms of cricket in many parts of the world, plus he just scored the fastest test ton.
The other 2 are just brilliant batsmen

 

[91Jmay]

I combined his ODI, Test Match, and T20 rating + the amount of sixes he hits + the fact he was born in New Zealand and realised this met the criteria, naturally.

 

[Howsie]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisden_Leading_Cricketer_in_the_World

Garry Sobers won it as a 22 year old and he was the first and only person I checked so I suspect there are many more.

Awkward...... The award was first presented in 2003, again I think you have confused it with something else.

 

[burr]

I'd say based on T20 WC his rep has dropped back a bit - at least I'd pick Root above him anytime across all formats. But yeah, nice to have all the world class batsmen spread across the countries and not dominated by the usual suspects (Aus, India).

 

[marc71178]

Awkward...... The award was first presented in 2003, again I think you have confused it with something else.

Retrospectively awarded FTW.

 

[mr_mister]

Bradman also won it at 22

 

[Athlai]

Actually won it after he died TBF for when he was 22.

 

[Cabinet96]

3 Kiwis, 1 Aus and 1 Englishman in the list

good job kiwis

Pretty sure the Englishman (Bairstow) was just there because he's English and it's Wisden (not exactly sure how it works tbh) so whether he should be as celebrated as the others is debatable I guess, but deserves to be acknowledged nonetheless

Personally think it's a disgrace that Kohli and ABDV were not named in the five.