New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson is well on the road to recovery with World Cup less than two months away. Earlier, it was deemed that the Kiwi cricketer will not be available for the mega event due to the injury he sustained in the first game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) while playing for Gujarat Titans. However, when the New Zealand squad for the England ODIs was announced, it was confirmed that Williamson will be with the squad and continue his rehab for knee injury.
Head coach Gary Stead is positive about his recovery too but stated that currently it is too early to know whether the captain will make it to the World Cup squad. But Williamson has around 45 days to make sure he would get fit at least during the mega event in India. The deadline to announce the squad for the showpiece event in September 5, however, any number of changes can be made to the squad by September 27.
"We will take every measure we can to make sure that we get the medical advice that lines up and he's where we want to be before we make that call on whether he goes [to India for the World Cup] or not. It's too early to know," Stead said while announcing the ODI squad against England.
Gary Stead, meanwhile, has not ruled out Kane Williamson's return during World Cup's league stage matches and stated that if he is going to be available during the second half of the tournament, but not directly the knockouts if they make it, the board will definitely consider including him in the squad.
"That's something we are talking about at the moment. If it's the knockout stages then I think that might be too late because you're saying something that may or may not even be there. But if it was earlier in the World Cup, I think we'd definitely be considering it," Stead added.
