New Zealand stalwart and skipper Kane Williamson turns 27-year-old today as we wish him a happy birthday.
The right-handed batsman has been shining the Kiwi torch bright in the cricketing world with his 17 centuries and over 5000 runs in Tests.
Here are five things you probably did not know about baby-faced assassin.
The right-handed batsman has a twin brother named Logan who was born just minutes after the New Zealand skipper 27 years ago today. In fact, the twins were undiagnosed and were actually a surprise for the parents who already had three daughters.
The Williamsons were a sporting family with two of the daughters going on to represent New Zealand in volleyball while Kane and his twin brother took up the pursuit of cricket under the watchful eye of their father, Brett who had played club cricket in his younger days.
During New Zealands’s tour of the United Arab Emirates in 2014 to take on Pakistan, Williamson donated his entire match fees from the five-match One Day International (ODI) series to the victims and families of the deadly Peshawar attack on an Army school.
The Black Caps skipper and pacer Adam Milne made this sizable contribution to Pakistan batsman Younis Khan to hand over to the families back in Pakistan. Williamson’s men won the ODI series 3-2 along with plenty of Pakistani hearts.
Williamson lifts the ODI trophy after New Zealand’s 3-2 win.
The right-handed batsman has confessed to idolising Sachin Tendulkar when he was growing up. The influence of the Indian superstar on Williamson was so great that the Tauranga born man modelled his game on the legendary batsman.
It would have been a really proud moment for the diminutive Williamson when he scored a magnificent century on his Test debut against India in 2010 in front of his long time idol.
Williamson modelled his game and persona on the little maestro.
Rugby is not the first sport which comes to mind when one thinks of the Kiwi skipper but Williamson is not going to be left behind when it comes to the most popular sport in New Zealand.
The 27-year-old was an excellent fly-half in his school days where he also excelled in another sport you would not associate with the baby-faced Williamson, basketball. He was in fact voted as the most valuable player in the mid-northern junior secondary school tournament.
Williamson excelled in rugby during his school days.
It would come to no one’s surprise to discover that the soft-spoken Williamson was the Head Prefect in his final year at Tauranga Boy’s College in 2008.
If cricket is a gentleman’s game, Williamson would still stand out among all for his gentle demeanour and high values.
The recipient of the 2016 Wisden Cricketer of the Year has carried on the leadership traits from his school days to leading the New Zealand Under-19 team in the World Cup in 2008 when he was just 17. The Black Caps would bow out in the semi-finals against the eventual winners, Virat Kohli’s India.
