Kane Richardson

Kane Richardson is one of Australia's young promising fast bowlers who can bowl fast and get the ball to move around. He represents South Australia, the state where he was born. He was part of Australia's squad for the 2009/10 Under-19 World Cup which also included Mitchell Marsh, Josh Hazlewood, Nic Maddinson and Alister McDermott. Though he did play all the matches, in his 3 games, he impressed with bat and ball.

He picked 6 wickets in the competition and also made vital contributions with the bat, including a highest score of 44. He was then signed by the Adelaide Strikers for the 2010-11 Big Bash League season and has played for them since then. He has played almost every match for the Strikers is the joint leading wicket-taker for the side.

When Mitchell Starc was injured for the second ODI against Sri Lanka at the Adelaide Oval in 2013, Richardson was named as his replacement and he only played the game, his first international for his country.At the 2014 IPL auctions, he was bought by the Rajasthan Royals and also took the field for them in a few games. He made his T20I debut for Australia in October 2014 against Pakistan.

Although more of a T20 specialist, Richardson did have a fine match-turning ODI 5-fer against India at Canberra in 2016, showing that he can adjust to that format as well. Over the years, Kane has found himself as a part of the bench strength of Australia's white-ball bowling unit, getting the odd game in between.

However, a strong BBL season where he got the ball to move appreciably with the new ball gave him a massive boost, given that he had usually relied on his variations most of the times in earlier seasons. Still, his World Cup selection came as a surprise, even if it was a replacement call after Jhye Richardson's last-minute injury. While not quite a regular, Richardson, when fit and ready, was always in consideration for Australia's white-ball teams. He was also selected for both the 2021 and 2022 T20 World cups. Richardson's ability to bowl at any stage of an innings makes him an asset to have in the shorter formats.

by Cricbuzz staff