to go to to India for my for my debut
and test cricket was a
it was a bit of a freaky experience
really because
thank you for joining us today Kane um
it is a pleasure to have you
um I'd like to begin by talking a bit
about your early journey in qriket
um you've played Cricket all your lives
you scored 40 Centuries by the time you
left school
um was representing New Zealand
internationally always on the cards or
did it become a goal later on
um well firstly I just want to say it's
a real honor to get the invitation to
come here uh to to Oxford and speak
um I must admit when I got the
invitation I questioned whether they had
the right person because some of the
names on the uh on the invitation that
have come and spoken here before uh
um the incredibly influential people and
I certainly wouldn't throw myself
anywhere near that category but it is
very
um humbling to to have this opportunity
um in terms of my cricketing journey
I'll try and keep it brief because I'm
assuming people just want to hear about
the World Cup I guess uh
twin brother three older sisters and a
large family that were all very
enthusiastic about Sport and my dad was
right into Cricket so the interest in
cricket grew fairly naturally and
um fortunate to live near a school field
where there was some fundraising done to
put up some Cricket Nets which suited me
just fine and a lot of my I guess days
after school were spent practicing and
then I guess if you fast forward over
the years that into age group cricket
and to uh to my school years as well and
um just sort of loved the sport and the
progression part kind of came off the
back of enjoying what I was doing and
then getting the experience to play some
professional Cricket
um towards the end of my my college
Years was a new experience and those
number of hundreds that you mentioned I
think every year that you leave school
they they grow which is pretty which is
impressive you always want more but I
don't recall scoring 40 of them at
school
um
but yeah I mean it's uh it's oh I don't
know if it's a anything special in terms
of the the journey but one thing that
I've always tried to maintain is uh the
enjoyment of of what I do and that can
be challenged at times certainly when
you get into the professional
um area of the sport and there's so many
other challenges but also very fortunate
as well and you certainly see that every
day that you're fortunate to do what you
love and as a job
so you made your test debut in 2010
against India and you scored a century
there as well
um how is it that this phenomenal
beginning then affected the rest of your
career and how is it that at such a
young age you adjusted to the
international Spotlight yeah I guess uh
if you rewind and that was an
interesting experience for me making my
debut it was
um you never
could foresee the opportunity to play
for your country it was probably less of
a goal and more of an idea or a dream
that was only real when it when it was
actually happening and um
I do recall making it an a side prior to
the black caps and when the Black caps
were never on your real Raider or the
opportunity to to play international
cricket was never on the radar the
um scoring runs and giving it that
Purity was a little bit more authentic
all of a sudden when it started looking
a little bit further ahead
um playing for the black caps felt um so
much further away so there was a few
lessons and and having those experiences
being able to peel it back
um before the time came where I was
selected in a squad and then to go to to
India for my for my debut and test
cricket was a
it was a bit of a freaky experience
really because
um growing up and playing backyard
Cricket I had half of the Indian team in
my um my backyard Cricket side and now I
was playing them and having to remove
that thought and and try and compete
against them so
um and in terms of adjusting to to that
um I think being naive and new to those
challenges perhaps was
um a positive thing
um the challenges are always there and
they can be they're always different but
having that little bit of freedom and
and sort of no expectation the
opportunity to just play one game for
your country was such a an exciting
thing in your own mind and you never saw
anything else and then so to go there
and do that um yeah it was was pretty
special let alone to to get off the mark
and then um stay out there a little bit
longer and score a few more runs
um so you talked about the
balances um that you faced are there any
that you can pinpoint specifically any
moment in your career that you remember
really freaking out or really thinking
oh wow am I really here to do this kind
of thing
yeah the the challenges are they're
always there I think um whether that's
the want for for more or whether you
have some success and
um and there's some fear of failure and
um there's all these different things I
guess when you enter the professional
environment and there's a few more I
would say distractions and and sometimes
the that what people would call very
positive things and the idea of it being
your job and these sorts of things but
they're also they can be added pressures
and when things aren't going
particularly well you can start looking
ahead of yourself again and sort of
focusing on the things that you can't
control so
um yeah that's that's always been
important to me but I do remember early
on
um playing a series in Sri Lanka and I
was maybe 20 or 21 and and it was really
tough and I'd
um sort of gone through the grades and
and had some success and then you're
sort of quite new into the the
professional game and all of a sudden
your talent wasn't
um sort of wasn't enough everybody was
talented and the challenge became so
much more about
um the confidence in your own game I do
remember I think 2021
um sitting in my room thinking I need to
enjoy this more than more than I am and
it sounds sad because it's often a dream
and there's probably a number of people
in this room that have that same dream
and
um and that's a a great thing and it
needs to be there but
um whilst you're you're in it um there
are those those challenges and so from
from that point and having a number of
other experiences
um I guess there was a conscious
decision around making sure I I tried to
treat the game in in a way that was
um true to me so I was able to to try
and enjoy it because in cricket and I
mean and anything really there's just so
much failure and there's so many things
you can't control that
um learning to accept those and try and
take it in your stride and and move on
with the approach that everything's a
learning experience is something that's
been really important to me rather than
sort of riding the highs and and trying
to avoid the lows because they're all
going to be a part of the big picture
so when you had this change in mindset
did you feel like your game got any
better or did you feel like you're
enjoying it more
um
yeah I mean I it wasn't a moment in time
and it's sort of the Forever Learning um
so uh and by no means do you have a
thought make an adjustment and never
think of it again all of a sudden when
when that catches on it comes and sort
of bites you in the bum a little bit and
yeah you need to remind yourself of I I
believe anyway and I do have to remind
myself of of these things so when you're
going out and you're playing in a you
know a World Cup final versus
um maybe
being two years out and it's just a
regular game in a series you know what
is what is the difference except for
some of the baggage around it is it the
desire for everything to go your way
versus accepting that on any given day
it may not happen perfectly but it
doesn't need to be perfect and
um so for me and my game it's you know
the the mindset is is very important I
think it's important for for everybody's
game but not just in qriket probably in
anything
um
and it's it's trying to stay true to
that and and then I guess dealing with
the distractions and the challenges that
are all around it so it's not something
that's I I don't believe anywhere and I
certainly haven't but I don't think it's
something mastered it's just something
that's ever present to deal with
so in 2016 you became the captain of the
New Zealand cricket team
um yeah
um what were your early experiences of
the captaincy and was it kind of another
change in mindset that you had to go
through from becoming just a qriket play
on an international level to the leader
of this very important international
team yeah
um yeah I mean it was definitely a
transition period before
being Captain we obviously had a a
previous Captain
um in in that of Brenda McCullum and and
he did such a fantastic job with the
side and took it to a new place in terms
of adjusting how we approached our
cricket
um
and then after that you you're losing
your leader and you're also losing him
as a player and and that's the nature of
sport or anything is that people I guess
have a use by date and and they move on
and do different things and that was one
of those times and so then to get the
opportunity to come in uh and Captain
and before that there was a there was a
sort of a sense of
um not well there were opportunities
where I came in and and Captain before
so I was it was sort of a worry for me
about about it just been given to me um
without truly being considered what's
important and and the leadership of the
team and so I when it did happen and I
was sort of selected or before it was
announced publicly I I did ask the
question that if it's not me it's okay
as well you know it can be anybody here
but what is the job and and give it to
the the person that you think might
offer in those areas and and anyway I
was then asked if I would do it and and
I did and it's and it's been another one
of those learning experiences where
you're learning so much about the group
around you and you're trying to continue
to I guess
make the people around you feel valued
and it's not just from my Direction but
it's much of a collective approach with
other leaders in the site other players
and support staff as well and and that's
um that's once again not a a task that
you tick and move on it's it's something
that bubbles away and and you're you're
forever addressing it and I think that
would be one of the
one of the more challenging parts of the
captaincy versus the the onfield so and
certainly where you learn most about
yourself and the people around you as
well so how do you think your leadership
style has kind of been different to
random columns and do you think it's
been better or worse in certain ways I
would claim it to be better yeah I mean
I feel very fortunate to have been
captained uh by Brendan and led by
Brendan and in a time where uh
leadership was so important for us as a
team to try and get us moving in a in a
direction that that we we wanted to be
going and playing a style of cricket
that that was authentic to us
um
I would say we're different people so
naturally we're going to have slightly
different
um ideas or behaviors
um but then at the same time being
led by Brenda for so many years and and
other people
um as well you yeah I suppose naturally
learn by just being in that environment
so I certainly hope that I have picked
up a number of traits from Brendan in
some parts but then trying to stay
authentic to to myself as a person so
perhaps what you say is believable
versus maybe reciting something you may
have just heard thank you so much for
joining us everyone
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