Player Profile

Seamer Will Williams has made a flying start to his Lancashire career after signing with the county in June 2022, initially as a short-term overseas and then on a long-term contract as a local player courtesy of a British passport.

Cards on the table. With Williams being a qualified flying instructor away from the game, we just couldn’t resist a pun or two.

But it’s definitely true, the New Zealander has made a smooth landing upon his arrival at Emirates Old Trafford, impressing team-mates, coaches and supporters alike in both the LV= Insurance County Championship and the One-Day Cup.

In a season-and-a-half, he has taken 75 wickets in 21 Championship matches, including 39 in 13 matches in 2023.

Thirty-one-year-old Williams signed for the Red Rose as a player who knows his own game inside out.

He is not the quickest seamer going around, but he is blessed with bucket loads of skill. If there is anything on offer through swing or seam, he is likely to take advantage and wreak havoc amongst batters.

A title winner in the colours of Canterbury - alongside our 2023 overseas player Daryl Mitchell - Lancashire signed him out of Somerset league cricket, where he was playing with the Bridgewater club.

He claimed 36 wickets in eight Championship games for Lancashire in 2022, the second most in the squad behind his new ball partner Tom Bailey. His haul included a best of 5-41.

Williams also claimed nine wickets in six 50-over matches, with his economy rate of 4.39 runs per over a particularly impressive statistic. In 2023, he claimed 13 wickets in seven matches, conceding on average 5.21 runs per over.

He is yet to make his Blast debut for the county.

It is very much worth looking closer at his economy rate.

In the 2023 Championship, Williams conceded only 2.5 runs per over. That was the best of any bowler in Lancashire’s squad and also the best of any bowler in the whole of Division One who had taken more than 10 wickets across the season.

At home in New Zealand, his team-mates labelled him as Big Billy. At Lancashire, they’ve handed him the nickname Will Squared and know he is all too happy to bowl the tough overs - up the hill and into the wind, etc.

Upon joining Lancashire in 2022, Williams admitted: “For the last couple of years, I’ve been thinking about playing county cricket. So to be able to make it come true is really nice.”

Williams is a multiple champion. He is a four-day Plunket Shield winner with Canterbury in 2016/17 and 2020/21, the latter season seeing him take 31 wickets - more than any other bowler in the competition.

He also won the Ford Trophy 50-over competition with the same state in 2016/17 and 2020/21. Again, in the latter, his 20 wickets were more than any other bowler.

Despite not debuting in T20 cricket for the Lightning, he has a best of 5-12 to his name for Canterbury in that format.