Kane Williamson confirms his SA20 debut in 2025

New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, who stepped down from captaincy and turned down a central contract in the aftermath of his side’s early exit in the 2024 T20 World Cup, has confirmed that he’ll be participating in the third edition of the SA20, which will run from January 9 to February 8 in 2025.

New Zealand, during the said window, are likely to play a total of six white-ball games against Sri Lanka, which Williamson would have been obliged to play had he been a centrally contracted player. But turning down a central contract has opened the door for the former skipper to delve into the franchise world, something he’s not done to date.

“There's a number of great competitions during that time, but SA20 looks really exciting," Williamson told reporters back home on June 20 (Thursday).

“It’s a wonderful place to go and play. It’s something a little bit different that I’m looking forward to.”

Playing in the SA20 will mean Williamson voluntarily missing national duty, considering the three ODIs and three T20Is the Blackcaps will be playing against Sri Lanka during the time of SA20. It’s a big call, but Williamson reaffirmed that he is still fully committed to playing for New Zealand as long as he possibly could.

“My priority still is, absolutely, playing for New Zealand,” he said. 

“I think I miss maybe a handful of games, if any, over a [four-week] period.

“Without a lot on in that window, I felt it was a nice opportunity ... something different to explore with the family.”

Williamson also stated that, at this point, he’s not made any decisions about his future with regard to giving up one format to prolong his career. But the 33-year-old admitted that Test cricket will definitely be a priority to him. “There's quite a bit of time in terms of looking ahead to the cricket that we've got coming up.

“No decisions are really made around that, but certainly test cricket is a priority in terms of formats and we've got a lot of that coming up. Over the next period of time, we'll be making those decisions.”

33 now, Williamson is unquestionably closer to the end than the start. But the veteran batter refused to put a number next to his career and asserted that he will keep going for as long as he possibly could. "I want to play as long as I can," he said. 

"I've really, really enjoyed my time captaining and it's been a privilege and an honour to do that for a number of years. I'm excited with what's next for the team in terms of the leadership as well and looking forward to being part of that.

"In terms of a timeframe, it's difficult to say. Want to keep being fit, doing as well as I can, keep trying to improve. That [2028] is a number of years away and it's a year at a time. All major events and key series are things that whet the appetite and are an exciting prospect. They are down the line. 

“Managing my time as well as I can after doing it for so many years is important and I know New Zealand Cricket are really supportive of that."

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