New Zealand’s veteran batsman Kane Williamson has made a comeback at the international level like Virat Kohli, returning to the ODI team for the first time after the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. The batsman was out for a duck in his return game against England.
England are currently on the tour of New Zealand and they have managed to take the lead over the hosts with a win in the rain-affected leg of the T20 series. The Mitchell Santner-led side will be missing the services of Glenn Phillips heading into the ODI matches.
However, the Kiwis have their experienced star Kane Williamson back in the camp for the first time since the ICC Champions Trophy final against India in Dubai in March 2025.
Like Indian legend Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson missed his comeback at the international level.
Unlike Virat Kohli, Kiwi star Kane Williamson has not retired from any format of the game and continues to play in all formats of the game. However, he usurped the central contract, giving him the freedom to choose the sports he wanted to participate in.
Williamson is yet to give any decision on his stance for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2026 or 2027 ICC World Cup in India and South Africa respectively. Amidst such circumstances, he made his much-awaited return to the game, but the joy was short-lived for New Zealand fans.
As soon as he came to bat at no. In his usual place in the team for New Zealand in the 3rd ODI, Williamson was out for a first ball duck against Brydon Carse. He was out on the very first ball and Cares was on a hat-trick until Daryl Mitchell defended strongly the third ball.
He has been compared to Indian batsman Virat Kohli, who made his international comeback just a week ago after being out for a duck against Australia in Perth.
Harry Brook dominated the first ODI by scoring a brilliant century.
The pitch at Mount Maunganui does not seem to be the best for batting, as first the English batsmen and now the Kiwi batsmen struggled to score runs easily on this pitch. This is unlike most flat tracks in New Zealand.
England looked to be in serious danger with the loss of 6 wickets in a short period of time, with no one able to even touch a double digit score. Legends like Kane Williamson, Joe Root and Jos Buttler were out on very low scores.
However, new England captain Harry Brook seemed to be batting on a different track. He fancied his chances on the Kiwi bowlers and hit them to all parts of the ground. Without backing down, he hit the white ball and scored 135 off 101 balls, supported by Jamie Overton down the order.
Brydon Carse moves into New Zealand’s batting order
Led by Brook’s eye-catching century, England passed 200 and finished with a target of 224 when Brook fell to captain Mitchell Santner as England’s last wicket.
New Zealand’s batsmen had to struggle against Brydon Carse, who started the innings with a brilliant opening spell with the new ball. He dismissed Will Young, Kane Williamson and then the good-looking Tom Latham, leaving New Zealand with 4 wickets to fall before even 100 runs were on the board.
Also read: Revealed: Why did Rohit Sharma refuse to take off his helmet during the century celebration?
