At an age when most test cricketers have retired and only an elite few can maintain their excellence, 38-year-old Sean Williams is bucking the trend and soaring to new heights on the cusp of his 20th anniversary representing Zimbabwe.
Upon the retirement of 21-year stalwart Jimmy Anderson last year, Bulawayo-born Williams became world cricket's longest-tenured player and his game has only improved with time.
As his side's premier contemporary batsman, over 17 tests and 162 one-day internationals Williams has averaged 45 and 38 respectively. Since 2020, those numbers skyrocket to 81 and 51 – and while captaining, 96 and 73.
"I've found that my scoring shot decisions have become way more selective and the per centages have become a lot higher towards me than towards the bowler," the left-hander told Reuters ahead of his 25 February milestone. "I just became a little bit calmer as a batsman."
Promoted to the national team in 2005 after a politically-driven player exodus, facing a merciless South Africa was an eye-opening initiation for the then 18-year-old.
"We were obviously young, we had no idea. We were just trying to survive 50 overs," he reflected, noting that coaches of that era tried hard but could not overhaul a negative culture.
"There was fear instilled elsewhere with the board. It just wasn't good and it wasn't nice cricket. There was no plan."
A two-day Cape Town massacre followed, and despite missing test selection Williams still finds humour in a 12th-man memory of teammate Brendan Taylor accidentally knocking himself out after making a low score.
"He had his helmet on, but he smashed his head with the bat and then I got a fright," Williams said. "I saw him go dizzy, hit the wall and then slide down the wall and lie down on the floor."
As a hopelessly-outgunned Zimbabwe retreated from the test arena, it would be eight more years before Williams made his red-ball debut.
'WE’RE GOING TO GET FIRED'
The father-of-two says a positive game plan which reflects modern scoring trends has been welcomed by the playing group over the last decade, as has an off-field culture shift.
After a string of disastrous results against Afghanistan last December, Zimbabwe Cricket managing director Givemore Makoni summoned the senior players to his office.
"I thought, 'jeez, we're going to get fired here', but he actually had a meeting of support," Williams said.
"That's quite a sensitive thing. I mean, it's something that people wouldn't know about the board, supporting a player or supporting the seniors.
"He's helped me a lot throughout a lot of troubled times," added Williams, who clubbed a career-best 154 in the next test.
Zimbabwe's next challenge comes against Ireland, who tour the African nation for three T20s, three ODIs and one test starting 6 February.
Williams earmarked 21-year-old Brian Bennett, who collected a century and a five-wicket haul in last year’s Boxing Day test against the Afghans, as his team’s most exciting prospect, alongside uncapped batsman Matthew Welch and paceman Takudzwa Chataira.
Although the allrounder has stepped away from T20 internationals, he hopes to regain fitness for the other legs, even if it means recusing himself from spin-bowling duties, having recently battled nerve pain stemming from a back injury.
There is no end in sight for the Matabeleland product, however, as he highlights the 2027 ODI World Cup, which his country will co-host with South Africa and Namibia, as the focal point on Zimbabwe’s calendar.
"I will be pushing it quite a bit then, but they're managing us now so that's a really amazing thing," he said.