The Bare Margins

The definitive autobiography of one of crickets greatest batsmen of his generation, and New Zealands all-time leading run scorer.
a superb treatise on sport and life … compelling insight Mike Atherton, The Times

‘As brilliant and magnificent as Kane the cricketer was, it’s the human who will forever be greater for me.’ VIRAT KOHLI
‘One of the most technically compact and magnificent batters I have seen.’ SACHIN TENDULKAR

‘A national treasure … a singular talent whose brilliant career he allowed us all to enjoy and share in.’ BRENDON McCULLUMThe runs, the records and the achievements speak for themselves, but what has always stood out the most to me is the person behind it all. DAVID WARNER

Forewords by Virat Kohli, Brendon McCullum and Owen Eastwood

A generational batsman and captain, Kane Williamson sits in the pantheon of cricketing greats.
Ending his career with a Test average of 54.06 and 19,346 international runs, including 48 centuries, he led New Zealand in all three formats of the game from 2016 to 2024, where the team made two World Cup finals and won the inaugural World Test Championship in 2021.
Williamson is New Zealand’s highest run-scorer of all time but his earliest experiences in the Black Caps environment were fraught and inconsistent. He describes the team as being like a herd of antelope hunted by lions: you didn’t have to be the fastest in the team, as long as you weren’t the slowest.
In The Bare Margins, Williamson talks about the fine lines between success and failure in sport, the influence of Brendon McCullum and the genesis of Bazball, and how the shift in culture from an individual to a team-first environment took an underdog side to number one in the world. He also talks openly about his time as captain, his philosophy and approach to batting, and the reasons for his sudden retirement during a Test series with England in 2026.
The Bare Margins is not just Kane’s story, it is must-have sports autobiography about leadership, culture and the mindset of a cricketing legend.