Kane Williamson acknowledged as New Zealand sportsman of the year with Halberg Award

Kane Williamson briefly occupied the No. 1 position in the ICC Test batting rankings in 2015 © Getty Images

Kane Williamson — termed King Kane by retiring skipper Brendon McCullum — has been crowned as the New Zealand sportsman of the year in the Halberg Awards. This is the most prestigious award ceremony in New Zealand for sportspersons across sporting codes. That Williamson won the award is a spectacular achievement in light of the fact that there were an incredible number of top performers in the Rugby as well as cricket circuit, apart from other sports. Williamson's award is, however, well justified given the prolific year he has enjoyed across formats. ALSO READ: Brendon McCullum claims Halberg Award for leadership

Earlier, McCullum won the Halberg Award for leadership and now his heir to the captaincy throne of the Black Caps has bagged a massive award. Williamson's achievements include Test hundreds in England, Australia and of course at home. His efforts saw him become the first New Zealand batsman to claim the No. 1 batting spot in the ICC Test rankings. He has also done exceptionally well in the 50-over game, even though the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 was a modest tournament for him by his own standards.

This will serve as a massive confidence-booster for Williamson ahead of the second Test against Australia at Christchurch. Williamson has been doing well against all teams, but has dipped a little bit against Australia, following his two big hundreds at Brisbane and Perth earlier in the season. He will look to rediscover his mojo with this award behind him.

SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR: KANE WILLIAMSON@BLACKCAPS ship-steadier Kane Williamson talks about his #HalbergAwards title pic.twitter.com/GFC4KmqI3C

— SKY Sport NZ (@skysportnz) February 18, 2016

Williamson spoke to Sky Sport about the significance of his award.