Kane Williamson took the 32nd century silently with an unbeatable mix of skill, patience and humility. ‘
This is exactly how noted commentator Harsha Bhogle described Kane Williamson’s century.He scored a pair of centuries in the previous Test. This time, even though he did not get a run in the first innings, he brought the team a historic victory with a history-making century.
New Zealand set the precedent of winning the Test series against South Africa for the first time. They thrashed the visitors with a 7-wicket win in the second Test in Hamilton. Although they were bundled out for 211 runs in the first innings, they had no difficulty in crossing the target of 267 runs. They saw success in 92 years and 18 attempts.
At the end of the third day, the hosts were 227 runs away from victory, with 9 wickets in hand. Williamson delivered another masterclass on the fourth day. He took the team to the port of victory with an unbroken partnership of 152 runs with Will Young (60*) for the fourth wicket. In the end he remained unbeaten on 133 runs off 260 balls with 12 fours and 2 sixes.
In this one innings, Williamson is sitting on a garland of records. He surpassed Steve Smith to take the record of 32nd century by playing the fewest innings. It took Smith 174 innings to achieve that record. This Kiwi batsman has played less than two innings there.
Five of Williamson’s 32 centuries came in the fourth innings of the match. Which is the highest for any batter. Although here he is sitting next to Pakistan legend Younis Khan. Only these two have five centuries in the fourth innings of the match.
However, Williamson has surpassed everyone as an unbeaten century in a successful run chase. He was jointly at the top with Australian legend Ricky Ponting (3). But today, Williamson scored his fourth unbeaten century in a successful run chase.
With this victory in Daput, New Zealand has risen to the top of the Test Championship. They scored 75 percent points by playing four tests. On the other hand, South Africa is eighth with 25 percent points in equal matches.
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