Fab Four: Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson (Source: AFP)
BlackCaps great Kane Williamson announced his retirement from international cricket on Friday, bringing the curtains down on a career spanning more than 15 years and 19,346 international runs.
He averaged 54.68 in Tests and scored 33 centuries across 108 matches. The numbers are staggering and deserve undue acknowledgement.
However, the bottom line is that when the phrase “Fab Four” was coined, who would have thought that one of the two youngest of them would retire the earliest?
Thus, in this article, let’s take a stroll back in time and shed light on the history of “Fab Four” in cricket: the four men who shaped modern-day cricket.
Birth of Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson as Fab Four
For the unversed, the term is not an official terminology in the game of cricket, nor was it originated in the International Cricket Council (ICC) headquarters. Rather, it was given by the late Martin Crowe, a legendary New Zealand cricketer.
In his column for ESPNCricinfo drafted in 2014, the Kiwi legend, who loved the game so much, wanted to imprint the future of cricket. Thus, Crowe looked at four young men: Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson, and coined the phrase “Fab Four”.
Why did Martin Crowe call them “Fab Four”?
According to Crowe, before hitting their peak, a batter, between the ages of 24 and 32, faces all sorts of problems in his career.
In his article, the late legend sought to identify four young batters roughly the same age and on the verge of cricketing greatness. He prophesied that this elite group would dominate the world Test cricket for the next decades.
Crowe selected the quartet - Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson, based on the following criteria:
Age and timing: They were all in their early twenties and had recently debuted in Test cricket within a two-year window.
Overcoming adversity: All four had overcome early-career struggles and technical weaknesses to lock down permanent positions in their respective Test teams.
Talent and temperament: Crowe noted they possessed similar levels of ambition, hunger, and technical capability under pressure.
Future captaincy: He accurately predicted that all four- Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson- would captain their respective teams and become the defining players of their generation.
More than a decade later, Crowe’s predictions have largely materialised.
He correctly predicted that “all would captain their countries”. Each of the four men went on to lead their respective national teams in all formats, achieving significant international success.
He also forecast that the four would trade the world’s number one batting ranking. Throughout their peaks, all four occupied the top spot on the ICC Test batting rankings at various points.
Rather than being a flash in the pan, the quartet became the most dominant batters of their generation, the 2010s-2020s. Between them, they amassed tens of thousands of international runs and shattered numerous all-time records.
Lastly, by looking at the band’s current stats, it is safe to say Crowe’s article was remarkably prescient. Thus, late Martin Crowe was a visionary who accurately coined the phrase “Fab Four”: Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson, who went on to define an entire era of modern cricket.
Fab Four: Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson (Source: AFP)
