England seamer Matthew Potts dismissed New Zealand star Kane Williamson for the fourth time in his Test career on Saturday (December 14), maintaining his excellent record against the batter.
England captain Ben Stokes elected to field first in the third and final Test of the series at Seddon Park in Hamilton. The tourists made one change to their lineup from the second Test, bringing in Matthew Potts for Chris Woakes.
New Zealand openers Tom Latham and Will Young provided a solid start, putting on 105 before Gus Atkinson dismissed Young for 42, bringing Kane Williamson to the crease.
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Potts picked up his first wicket of the innings as Latham nicked one down the leg side to wicketkeeper Ollie Pope. Brydon Carse accounted for Rachin Ravindra eight overs later.
Soon after the tea interval, Potts took his second as Williamson kept out a length delivery, only to watch it trickle behind him towards the stumps. He attempted to kick it away, but missed, and the bails were dislodged.
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This wicket might have owed much to luck, but it continued a record of dominance held by Potts over Williamson in Test cricket so far. In the Test series between these two sides in June 2022, Potts dismissed Williamson in both innings at Lord's, for 2 and 15 before taking his wicket in the second innings at Headingley, for 48.
Not only has Potts dismissed Williamson at least once in each match against him, he has also kept the batter quiet. All told, the head-to-head record between the pair now reads 11 runs for four wickets in 50 deliveries.
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Five players have dismissed Williamson more than four times in Test cricket – R Ashwin, Kemar Roach, Pragyan Ojha (five times each), Stuart Broad (six) and James Anderson (nine). Potts' strike rate of a wicket every 12.5 balls is the best of any bowler to have dismissed Williamson more than once, as is his average of 2.75 runs per wicket.
At the time of writing, New Zealand were 210-5 in the 66th over of the first innings, having lost Daryl Mitchell after Williamson.
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