New Zealand Star Kane Williamson claimed a pair of records to his name in the first ongoing of a two-match Test series against a third string. south african team, which is touring without any of its veteran players. Williamson, with his first innings century at the Bay Oval stadium in Mount Maunganui, became the latest entry in the list of batsmen to score 30 Test centuries.
Kane Williamson showed his old self after South Africa put the Kiwis to bat first on a track that has greatly favored the batsmen. After a crumbling start given by openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway, which saw the hosts lose 2 wickets in the 17th over, Rachin Ravindra he teamed up with Williamson to steady his ship.
The duo put in a fantastic effort in the middle and after initially trying to set themselves up, Rachin and Williamson began to attack the inexperienced Proteas bowling attack. The two accounted for a splendid partnership of 232 runs for the fourth wicket and shared the majority of the team’s final first innings total.
Kane Williamson becomes first from his country to score 30 Test tons
Kane Williamson with his 118 for 289, including 16 fours, became the first batsman for his country to score 30 Test centuries. No other batsman before him in New Zealand could do it. In fact, no New Zealand batsman has scored even 20 tons and that describes how difficult it is to score runs in the longest format.
Former explosive top-order batsman Ross Taylor has the second-highest number of Test centuries for New Zealand with 18 tons between 2007 and 2022. Martin Crowe is the third-highest centurion for them with 17. With no other New Zealand batsman coming close to Williamson, he will probably become the greatest player New Zealand has ever had.
Although Kane Williamson himself will hope that someone in the current team can emulate him, that will require a lot of patience and a lot more Test cricket in the future. And if anyone can, then it is their left-handed batsman Rachin Ravindra, who scored a wonderful double century in the same innings in which Williamson scored his 30th and his efforts led New Zealand to post a mammoth 511.
South Africa’s inexperienced batting line-up failed to produce a proper response as they were bowled out for just 162, thanks to 3 wickets each for Matt Henry and Mitchell Santner, while Kyle Jamieson and Ravindra took a double each.
Kane Williamson joins the second-fastest batsman to score 31 Test tons and also the sixth-highest Test centurion on home soil
Kane Williamson continued his form in the second innings with another century. His 109 for 132 helped him become the second fastest batsman alongside Australian legend Steve Smith to score 31 Test tons in 170 innings, trailing only former Indian batsman great Sachin Tendulkar, who achieved the incredible feat in 165 innings. .
Furthermore, the first World Test Championship-winning captain also became the sixth highest century scorer in the world. He made his 18th at home in the second innings and with that, he also became the fifth Blackcaps batsman after Glenn Turner, Geoff Howarth, Andrew Jones and Peter Fulton to score two centuries in an innings in the same Test match.