In the current era of high octane T20 cricket, a lot of pundits around the globe feel that test cricket is being neglected. The presence of some cash rich leagues such as IPL, CPL and BBL has attracted a throng of stars, who prefer to ply their trade in the shortest format, rather than test cricket.
However, New Zealand skipper and the ever reliable Kane Williamson firmly believes that test cricket is still the pinnacle of the game. In a recent interaction, while reacting about the ICC’s proposed format of dividing test nations on the basis of tiers, Williamson said that for him, the ultimate challenge still lay in playing test cricket.
“I think Test cricket has a huge amount of meaning as it is,” Williamson said. “It’s certainly the pinnacle of the game seen by any cricketer. There may be room to apply a format that is structured in a certain way. Time will tell whether that grows legs or not,” the New Zealand skipper added.
Williamson also opened up about the ICC’s proposal and said that it was a good idea to grow the game. “I haven’t heard a huge amount about that,” Williamson said. “Naturally as a board, they’re always looking to come up with ways that might continue to help the game grow. At the moment, they’re doing a pretty good job and I’m sure they’ll come up with a number of other ways or ideas they might look to employ.”
The elegant right hander also said that he was quite proud of New Zealand success as a team. “The team has shown improvement which reflects in the rankings, and certainly the challenge is to continue to improve. I think cricket in general is becoming a bigger sport, and that lifts the standard.
There are challenges day in, day out, and the volume of cricket is also part of the challenge, and staying fit and fresh all comes into the equation. There’s plenty coming up, one day at a time, and the guys are looking forward to the next tour which is Zimbabwe,” Williamson said.