Kane William Richardson (born 12 February 1991) is an Australian international cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Queensland and Melbourne Renegades.
Since 2013, Richardson has played international cricket for Australia in both One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals, and as a teenager, he played for Australia's Under-19 team, winning the 2010 Under-19 Cricket World Cup with them. Richardson was also a member of the Australian team that won the 2021 T20 World Cup.
Richardson is a right-arm fast bowler from country South Australia. He has struggled over the years for consistency in first-class matches, but is widely regarded as a white ball specialist due to his successes in the shorter forms of the game. In addition to being a skilled bowler, he is a competent batsman and an athletic fielder.
In May 2022, Richardson joined the Queensland cricket team and left the South Australia cricket team.
Career
Youth career (2008–2010) Richardson was born in Eudunda in country South Australia, but he spent much of his childhood in Darwin in the Northern Territory. He moved back to South Australia to play for the Southern Redbacks, making his Twenty20 debut in the 2008–09 Big Bash and his one-day debut in the 2008–09 Ford Ranger Cup.
In 2009, Richardson was named in Australia's under-19 squad for their tour of India ahead of the 2010 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. While on tour in India, he managed a five-wicket haul in a youth test against India. After the tour, he went with the team to Kenya to play in the World Cup. He played three matches in the tournament and impressed with both bat and ball. His first standout performance came against Ireland, when he scored 23 runs from 14 balls and took three wickets with the new ball to help Australia to a crushing 209-run victory. He was brought into the team for the final of the World Cup against Pakistan, top-scoring with 44 runs to help Australia to their third Under-19 World Cup title. During his youth career, Richardson played in two youth Test matches and ten youth One Day Internationals (ODI).
Continued career and international debut (2010–2013) Richardson continued to play for the Redbacks and was a crucial part of their win in the 2010–11 Big Bash, taking three key wickets against New South Wales in the final of the tournament. His form carried over into the other forms of the game in this season as well, with a man-of-the-match bowling performance against Queensland in the Ryobi Cup being followed up with his first-class debut for South Australia in the next Sheffield Shield game. He was impressive on debut, taking a wicket in each of his first three overs of first-class cricket. At the end of the season, he was upgraded from a rookie contract with South Australia to a full contract for the first time, and when the Big Bash was replaced with the Big Bash League he stayed in Adelaide, playing for the new Adelaide Strikers.
Richardson had a breakout season in 2012–13, particularly in the Ryobi Cup where he took 21 wickets in just five matches with a very good average of 13.8, including a six-wicket haul against Queensland. On the back of his strong performances for South Australia and the Adelaide Strikers, Richardson replaced the injured Mitchell Starc in the 2nd One Day international against Sri Lanka on 13 January 2013, making his international debut. In his first One Day International, he got a first ball duck lbw to Lasith Malinga and the fine figures of 6 overs, 3 maidens and no wickets for 15 runs when he was removed by umpire Marais Erasmus for repeatedly running on the pitch in his follow through. He was forced to remodel his follow through during the rest of the season, but he continued to impress in domestic cricket with a five wicket haul against Victoria and six wickets against New South Wales.
IPL career and backup international bowler (2013–present)
Indian Premier League (2013–2014) Richardson made international headlines when he was bought by the Pune Warriors in the 2013 IPL player's auction for $700,000, the third-highest price of any player that season despite the fact he had only played six first-class matches to that point. He went on to play just three matches for the Warriors in the 2013 season. Before the 2014 season, he was bought by the Rajasthan Royals and had more success with them, playing 7 matches and taking 11 wickets. This ended up being his only season with the team as, though he was then retained by the Royals for the 2015 season, he withdrew from the tournament due to personal reasons.