Kane Williamson reflects on Fab Four legacy
Williamson revealed that he had shared considerable time with Kohli and Root, while his interactions with Smith had been comparatively limited.
Kane Williamson , Virat Kohli , Joe Root and Steve Smith were often grouped together as the ‘Fab Four’, but Williamson says he never paid much attention to the tag during their playing careers. “I never thought anything about it, as in you’d hear it often because it would get sort of put in front of you, but in some ways, like now finishing, it is quite unique,” Williamson said. It’s just kind of quite unique, I think,” he said. They’re all different characters,” he said.
Four batters, four different countries and one defining era of cricket . Looking back, however, the former New Zealand captain considers their parallel journeys and the opportunity to compete against each other something truly unique. The quartet dominated conversations around Test batting for several years, with each establishing themselves as the leading run-scorers and match-winners for their respective countries. Williamson believes their individual journeys and approaches to the game made the era particularly special While comparisons between the four were frequent. “There was a moment in time where we competed against each other for so long. Played with Rooty at Yorkshire, Virat and I from Under-19s, and Smudge as well. The former New Zealand captain also spoke about his relationship with the other three batters, acknowledging that he had spent more time with some than others. However, he expressed admiration for all three, particularly the different ways in which they approached the game. “I mean, largely they’re all quite different. Kind of spent quite a bit of time with Virat and Rooty, a little bit with Smudge over the years, but yeah, more so some than others.