New Zealand captain Kane Williamson produced a magnificent effort with the bat on Day 2 of the first Test against West Indies in Hamilton on Friday. The Kiwi superstar brought up his third double hundred in Test cricket and went on to score a career-best 251.
Williamson, who resumed his knock of 97 on the second day, ameliorated his previous best of 242 not out which came against Sri Lanka at the same venue in 2015.
After adding 83 runs for the third wicket with Ross Taylor (38), Williamson formed three more crucial partnerships to put his side in a commanding position. He stitched 72 runs for the fifth wicket with Tom Blundell (14), 56 runs for the sixth wicket with Daryl Mitchell (9) and 94 runs for the seventh wicket with Kyle Jamieson (51) to help the home team go past the 500-run mark.
For the visitors, Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel bagged three wickets each while Alzarri Joseph got the prized scalp of the NZ skipper. After Williamson’s dismissal, New Zealand declared their first innings at 519/7 in 145 overs.
When it comes to West Indies, they made a strong start and reached 49 for no loss in 26 overs with openers John Campbell (22 not out) and Kraigg Brathwaite (20 not out) alive on the crease.
Pretty happy with the performance: Williamson
After the end of the day’s play, Williamson said that considering the green top surface he’s pretty satisfied with the way team performed.
“After the day’s play yesterday and looking at the surface, we were pretty happy finishing with only a couple of wickets down because both teams were pretty keen to bowl first. There was a bit of movement there, and a bit of fortune goes your way,” said Williamson as quoted by India Today.
“We were able to build those partnerships throughout the innings to get a really competitive first-innings total. But there’s a bit of work to do. The Hamilton wicket tends to keep flattening out, so there’s a big job for the bowlers to do,” he added.
The 30𝕴-year-old opined that there is so much left in the game and his team is currently focusing on𝕴 that.
“For me, it was important to try and make good decisions for a long period of time, and I think that gives you the best chance. But there’s so much cricket left, and that’s where our focus is at the moment,” Williamson added further.
Here is how Twitter reacted:
Oh boy oh boy … Well played Kane Williamson
— Russel Arnold (@RusselArnold69)
Kaꩵne Williamson is pure cla✨ss congratulations highest test score👏🏼👏🏼��🏼
— Mohammad Nabi (@MohammadNabi007)
Kane Williamson is a genius.
— Shikha Pandey (@shikhashauny)
GONE!
New Zealand s⛎kipper Kane Williamson falls after scorin🉐g a magnificent 251 – his highest score in Test cricket 👏
Describe his 👌 innings with a gif 👇 |
— ICC (@ICC)
Pitch was green enough
For goats to graze
A GOAT did come
And boy did it grace!— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14)
Kane Will🀅iamson is an absolutely pure class wha﷽t a player 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
— Rashid Khan (@rashidkhan_19)
The flawless shift𝐆 between the formats is something one should learn to master from 👏🏼
— Pragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha)
Kane “Fantastic” Williamson. 🙏
— Sandeep Lamichhane (@Sandeep25)
“🧸Sorry guys I didn’t really want to do that but it’s my job so I kinda had to.”♐
— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh)
I can’t reme𒁃mber seeing a team score 400 and thinking how well the bowlers have bowled . Kane Williamson is diff🐈erent gravy
— Carlos Brathwaite (@CRBrathwaite26)
The flawless shift between the f𒁃ormats is something one should learn to master from 👏🏼
— Pragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha)
//twitter.com/amolmuzumdar11/status/1♌3346660𝓡70599163904
The technical skill of Kane Williamson’s batting ༺is other- worl🌊dly.
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi)
Only one captain has a Holder of this game.
Williamson just grinding away quietly. I'm just going to pop out for an hour do a couple of errands and get back to see his double. In the bag.— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg)
Ok🅰 then m🦩ake it 💯💯, why not if you can, well played Kane. 🙌🏼
— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket)
King Kane Declares!
A Test best 251 from Kane Williamson & 51* by Kyle Jamieson pushes ﷽us to 519-7 & a declaration with 26 overs remaining on day two at CARD | 📷=— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS)
