New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson scores record twin hundreds in first Test against South Africa
Published: Feb 06, 2024, 24:19 IST | Updated: Feb 06, 2024, 24:19 IST
Kane Williamson scored twin hundreds in Test vs SA.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson scored a record second hundred on day 3 (Feb 6) in the ongoing first Test against South Africa in Mount Maunganui. Williamson scored 109 in addition to his 118 in the first innings and became only the fifth Kiwi batter to achieve the feat. Thanks to Williamson's century, New Zealand piled on more misery on inexperienced South Africa by taking their total lead to 528 runs with six wickets remaining by the end of play on Tuesday.
Before Williamson, Glenn Turner (1974), Geoff Howarth (1978), Andrew Jones (1991) and Peter Fulton (2013) had achieved the same feat for the Blackcaps. All of these five batters, however, scored the twin hundreds in a home Test.
Turner had scored 101 & 100 not out against Australia in Christchurch, Howarth hit 122 & 102 and England in Auckland, Jones managed 122 & 100 not out against Sri Lanka in Hamilton and Fulton recorded 136 & 110 against England in Auckland before Williamson.
This was Kiwi skipper's 31st Test century and 44th in international cricket (13 in ODIs). He also became the joint second fastest to reach 31 Test tons along with Australia's Steve Smith. India's Sachin Tendulkar remains the fastest to reach the milestone.
Williamson is now joint fourth, again with Smith, in terms of most international hundreds among active cricket players. Virat Kohli (80) leads the list of active cricketers with most international hundreds ahead England's Joe Root second (46), India's Rohit Sharma (46), Steve Smith (44) and Williamson (44).
New Zealand coach Gary Stead also praised Williamson for the feat and said: "I think it's only the (fifth) time in New Zealand history that a player has got two centuries in one match. So it's pretty special to be part of. He's been an incredible player for us and just keeps churning out the runs."