Kane Williamson emulated and rewrote several world records as New Zealand beat South Africa in a Test series for the first time.
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New Zealand had won the first Test of the two-match series, at Mount Maunganui, but South Africa’s second-string unit hit back at Hamilton. They made 242 before Dane Piedt (5-89) restricted the hosts to 211, and David Bendingham’s 110 helped them set a target of 267, which would be the highest total of the match.
Piedt (3-93) reduced New Zealand to 117-3, but Kane Williamson (133 not out) saw them home in the company of Will Young (60 not out). This was the first time New Zealand beat South Africa in a men’s Test series, in 18 attempts, eight of which were played in South Africa.
Williamson already had the most Test hundreds for New Zealand, but with this ton, his 32nd, he drew level with Steve Waugh and Steve Smith. He is now joint-11th on the all-time list. At 172 innings, Williamson now holds the record for being the fastest to 32 Test hundreds: he broke Smith’s record of 174.
The hundred was his fifth in the fourth innings, the joint-most in history, a record he now shares with Younis Khan. However, Williamson has batted only 26 times in the fourth innings, significantly fewer than Younis’ 40. All five of Williamson’s fourth-innings hundreds have been unbeaten. No one else has even four, though Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith have three apiece.
Since the pandemic, Williamson has made 2,190 runs at 78.21 and 11 hundreds from 32 innings. Root is the only one with more hundreds (13) over this period, but he has batted 82 times. Williamson’s average is also the best with a 300-run cut-off.
Williamson’s numbers at home over this make even more ridiculous reading. His 1,521 runs have come at 117, and he has hit nine hundreds in 15 innings. In fact, with a 3,000-run cut-off, his average of 69.70 at home is next to only Don Bradman’s 98.22.
Williamson now has a streak of 132, 1, 121*, 215, 104, 11, 13, 11, 118, 109, 43, 133* – in other words, seven hundreds in his last 12 innings. The only cricketer to have surpassed this was Bradman, who had made a 12-innings phase of eight hundreds spread across either side of the Second World War.
One man who surpassed Williamson’s heroics to win the Player of the Match award was William O’Rourke, who claimed 5-34 and 4-59 to became the first New Zealand debutant to take nine wickets in a Test match. The previous record for a New Zealand debutant was Mark Craig’s 8-188.
