'Flatline' New Zealand star Williamson impresses O'Brien

Former New Zealand paceman Iain O'Brien says the inability of opposition teams to read "flatline" captain Kane Williamson is a huge asset to the Black Caps at the World Cup.

Williamson has been leading from the front in style heading into Saturday's match at Lord's against reigning champions Australia, who beat the Black Caps in the 2015 final.

One of the world's leading batsmen, he has scored 414 runs in the tournament so far at an average of 138, including match-winning hundreds against South Africa and the West Indies.

"You just expect him to do well and he expects himself to do well, hence you don't see a lot of emotion from him either when he fails or when he succeeds," O'Brien told AFP.

"He's just so flatline. It's kind of great to see. In terms of the New Zealand captaincy, (Daniel) Vettori before him was similar -- you just can't read him.

"Not letting your emotion get involved is a massive asset for what Kane does and how he succeeds."
- 'England's burden' -
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"I think they are just suffering under the burden of expectation and their own expectation."