Need to be prepared and play with freedom: Kane Williamson

New Zealand started their preparation for the Champions Trophy on a high as they clinched the Tri-series held in Ireland with Bangladesh as the third team. They played some aggressive cricket to win all but one game – they lost against Bangladesh in the final league game on Wednesday – and have a good morale going into the eight-nation tournament.

New Zealand’s last ODI assignment in England was in 2015, where they lost the series 3-2 despite leading 2-1 in the series. They are placed in the same group of the hosts alongside Australia and Bangladesh. The nature of the ICC Champions Trophy is such that teams cannot afford to start slowly.

Skipper Kane Williamson will take part in his career’s second ICC Champions Trophy and will lead New Zealand into a major ICC event for the first time. Speaking to the media, Williamson was of the opinion that his side cannot play conservative cricket due to the nature of the tournament. He highlighted the experience his side gained in the 2015 series, though the result did not go in their favour eventually.

“Any time you have those experiences against opponents you are coming up against in similar conditions, it is the same side too, it is only a good thing,” he said.

“But you don’t tend to look too much into it in tournaments like this it is a one-off game and both teams will be playing with freedom and hope it comes off. “But there is not much time for slip-ups or conservative cricket.”

Having won the tournament once in 2000, New Zealand played in another final in 2009 where they were outplayed by Australia. Williamson said that the tournament is open and any side could come up triumphs on a given day.

“It is such an interesting tournament because it is such a short tournament,” Williamson said. “On any given day things can happen that might be out of your control and it can go one way or the other, so we have to hit the ground running.”

“It is a very interesting tournament having played in it before and everyone is a real contender so you need to play with freedom, be prepared to take the game and hope things land in your favour.”

Williamson along with a couple other Kiwi players are fresh from their latest IPL stint hence they are match-fit. The 26-year old himself was in top form during the IPL scoring runs at a good clip. The elegant right-hander lit the IPL up when he smacked 89 pristine runs in his first game of the season.

“The exposure and learning that can be done there; it is a huge tournament so the more the merrier. It is a great competition to be part of and we push for as many players as we can to be involved in the IPL,” he said.

Williamson-led New Zealand will take arch-rivals Australia on in their first game on June 2 at Edgbaston in Birmingham and will then head to Cardiff for their remaining two group clashes against England and Bangladesh at the Sophia Gardens on June 6 and June 9 respectively.