Record Galore As Kane Williamson Smacks Multiple Centuries In 1st Test Against South Africa

New Zealand star Kane Williamson claimed a couple of records to his name in the ongoing 1st of a 2-match Test series against a 3rd string South African team, which is touring without any of their senior players. Williamson with his 1st innings century at the Bay Oval arena in Mount Maunganui became the latest entrant in the list of batters scoring 30 Test centuries.

Kane Williamson displayed his vintage self after South Africa had put the Kiwis to bat first on a track which has favored the batters heavily. After a crumbling start given by openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway, which saw the hosts lose 2 wickets within the 17th over, Rachin Ravindra partnered alongside Williamson to steady their ship.

The duo made a fantastic effort in the middle and after initially trying to get set, Rachin and Williamson started battering the inexperienced Proteas bowling attack. Both of them stood for a splendid 232-run partnership for the 4th wicket and shared most of the team’s eventual 1st inning total.

Kane Williamson Becomes First From His Country To Score 30 Test Tons

Kane Williamson with his 118 off 289 including 16 fours became the first batter from his country to ever score 30 Test centuries. No other batter before him in New Zealand was able to do so. In fact no Kiwi batter has even scored 20 tons and that describes just how hard it is to score runs in the longest format.

Former top-order explosive batter Ross Taylor has the 2nd most Test centuries for New Zealand with 18 tons from 2007-2022. Martin Crowe is the 3rd highest centurion for them with 17. With no other Kiwi batter getting closer to Williamson, he will probably go down as the biggest player New Zealand have ever had.

Although Kane Williamson himself will hope that someone from the current team is able to emulate him but that will require a lot of patience and a lot more Test cricket going forward. And if anyone can then it is their left-hand batter Rachin Ravindra who smacked a wonderful double hundred in the same innings that Williamson achieved his 30th and their efforts led New Zealand to post a mammoth 511.

South Africa’s inexperienced batting lineup did not produce a fitting response as they were bundled out for just 162, thanks to 3 wickets each for Matt Henry and Mitchell Santner while Kyle Jamieson and Ravindra collected a brace each.

Kane Williamson Joint 2nd Fastest Batter To Score 31 Test Tons And Also The Joint 6th Highest Test Centurion On Home Soil

Kane Williamson carried on his form in the 2nd innings with yet another century. His 109 off 132 helped him become the 2nd fastest batter alongside Aussie legend Steve Smith to score 31 Test tons in 170 innings, falling behind only to former Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar who achieved the incredible feat in 165 innings.

Moreover, the first-ever World Test Championship-winning captain also became the joint 6th highest century scorer in the world. He smacked his 18th at home in the 2nd innings and with that, he also became the 5th Blackcaps batter after Glenn Turner, Geoff Howarth, Andrew Jones, and Peter Fulton to score two centuries across innings in the same Test match.