ICC World Cup 2023: “Too Early In Case There Is That Chance Still” – Gary Stead On Chances Of Kane Williamson For World Cup

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead provided an update about the injury of Kane Williamson. He said that it’s too early to rule him out of the ICC Cricket World Cup as he is in the early stages of his rehab program. He also opened up about the strategy for the tournament.

Kane Williamson suffered a horrific knee injury in the opening game of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. He injured his knee while fielding at the boundary ropes, which saw him getting ruled out of the tournament.

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Gary Stead while updating about Williamson said that he’s in a brace and they don’t want to rule out a player of his calibre. As quoted by Stuff.co.nz, he said:

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“It’s still far too early to know. He’s had the operation and, to date, what we know, that’s been successful. So he is in the very, very early stages of his rehab programme. It’s obviously pretty non-weight-bearing at this stage, and he’s in a brace. It’s really just meeting milestones as we go.”

“Our line around Kane, at the moment, is still it’s unlikely that he will be available, but we certainly don’t want to rule out a person of his class and calibre, and the things he brings to this team, too early in case there is that chance still.” 

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ICC World Cup 2023: “It does make it pretty difficult to finalise plans right now,” says Gary Stead 

Gary Stead further said that since the schedule of the tournament is yet to be released, they have kept all the plans open and it’s difficult to finalize the plans. He said:

“It’s not out yet, so there’s not much we can do about that, so it does keep our options reasonably open without knowing the venues and who we are playing at different venues. So, it does make it pretty difficult to finalise plans right now. But that again just gives players opportunities that are within the squad now to come out here and play for New Zealand.”

New Zealand are currently locking horns in the white-ball series against Pakistan. They drew the T20I series 2-2 and now will play the five-match ODI series, starting 27th April.

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