New Zealand’s ODI captain, Kane Williamson is taking it “week-by-week” as he makes progress with recovery from a ruptured ACL injury.

The Tauranga-born, all-time leading run-scorer in test cricket for New Zealand was in the Bay of Plenty last week for the Zespri Young & Healthy Virtual Adventure.

The Weekend Sun took the opportunity to see how the cricketer’s tracking with the ODI World Cup 2023 fast approaching in October.

Making progress
After rupturing his ACL at the IPL 2023 opener back in March, Kane says progress with the injury is “going good”.

“Basically, there’s still a lot to do and I’ll keep ticking off those little milestones as best I can in order to be ready as soon as I can be.”

Kane says he’s been doing a lot of strength work, and increasing this in recovery efforts.

“Then there’s the return to running phase, which is what we’re kind of in at the moment, which has been going quite well; and then trying to get back into training and increasing the participation there so yeah it is a week-by-week thing.”

World Cup awaits
So will he play in the world cup in India come October?

“It truly is a week-by-week focus and I don’t have that answer...It’s about my body and there’s so many different parts to that – it’s the healing, it’s the strength around that, the capability to do what’s required, and then confidence.

“There is still a bit of time to see more progress and there is a lot more progress in this next period and that’s the focus for me and we’ll just see where it lands.”

Nonetheless, Kane plans to head to India with his team for worlds.

“Whether that’s as a player or in the support staff area – there’s still so many unknowns, so it’s crossing those bridges when we get to them.

“I know the team is really excited that they’re going to another world cup and there’s a lot of experience in the group which is helpful…everyone wants to win but at the end of the day it’s focusing on the things you can control and put all your effort into that which gives you a pretty good chance.”