Everyone’s heard of cricket’s ‘Fab Four’ batsmen: Australia’s Steve Smith, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, England’s Joe Root and India’s Virat Kohli.
With all four holding Test averages above 50, all captaining their countries at stages, and all being born within two years of each other – it's easy to see why they were grouped together.
Although all have been dominant in their careers, SENZ host Ian Smith thinks the only true “constant” in the group in terms of consistency is Black Caps captain Williamson.
Kohli has failed to reach a century in 50 consecutive international innings, Root struggled for form in the last couple of years and Smith missed a chunk of cricket due to sandpaper-gate.
“I’ve always thought there’s a Fab Four in terms of modern day batsman,” Smith said on SENZ Mornings.
“Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli and Joe Root.
“Joe Root kind of drifted out of the fab four for a while – and apart from Williamson they all really have.
“Steve Smith of course with sandpaper-gate, he was out of the side for some time and you couldn’t really put him in, now he’s in a rich vein of form.
“We’ll see in the Ashes, that’s a great battle between Smith, Joe Root and also Marnus Labuschagne.
“But that constant in the Fab Four though has always been Kane Williamson.
“He’s always had an undoubted place in it, and I think most of my overseas colleagues in the commentary box would agree with that.”
At just 30 years of age, and with 24 Test centuries and an average of 53.95, Wiliamson looks certain to end his career as the nation’s top run scorer in the long-format, and could be the first Kiwi to break the 10,000 run barrier.
He’ll hope to continue his strong form into this summer’s likely home Test series’ against Bangladesh and South Africa.