Against South Africa at Mount Maunganui, Kane Williamson hit his 30th Test hundred to improve on his already astonishing home record.

South Africa went into the Test match with six debutants, including captain Neil Brand. They even had an early breakthrough when Tshepo Moreki (1-81) became the 24th bowler to take a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket when he trapped Devon Conway leg-before.

Dane Paterson (1-59) then claimed Tom Latham to reduce New Zealand to 39-2, but Kane Williamson (112 not out) and Rachin Ravindra (118 not out) batted through the rest of the day as the hosts finished on 258-2.

Williamson already held the record for most Test hundreds for New Zealand by a colossal margin: no one else has even 20. Now he became the first from New Zealand to 30 Test hundreds. His 8,375 runs are also the most for New Zealand, as are his 63 scores in excess of fifty.

Among active Test cricketers, only Steve Smith (32) has more Test centuries than Williamson. Joe Root also has 30. Across history, Williamson is joint 12th on the list of most Test centuries.

On New Zealand soil, Williamson has made 4,379 runs at 68.42 – the second-best batting average for anyone on home soil with 4,000 runs, after Don Bradman (98.22). If he gets out without adding another run on day two, his 67.37 will still be ahead of third-placed Garry Sobers’ 66.80. Williamson has more runs at home than both Bradman and Sobers.

Since the pandemic, Williamson has made 1,899 runs at 75.96 and nine hundreds from 29 innings. Root is the only one with more hundreds over this period, but his 13 tons have come in 81 innings. No one with 300 runs has an average better than Williamson’s.

Predictably, his home numbers (1,230 runs at 123, seven hundreds in 12 innings) make absurd reading over this period. Root matches his centuries tally, but he has batted 41 times.

Williamson and Ravindra’s unbroken 219-run partnership is now New Zealand’s highest for the third wicket against South Africa. They left the 125-run stand between Mark Richardson and Scott Styris set in 2003/04 far behind. For any wicket, only Stephen Fleming and James Franklin (256 for the eighth wicket in 2004) and Chris Cairns (225 for the seventh wicket in 2003/04) have added more.

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