Williamson achieves more milestones
"As a team, we’re always trying to adjust to the conditions."
Kane Williamson
Kane Williamson’s latest foray into the record books has further cemented his status as New Zealand’s greatest test batsman, though you’d never know it from his reaction to the feat.
Williamson’s unbeaten double century against Pakistan moved him up a myriad of all-time batting lists, but one record stands out as remarkable and justifies his place among the sport’s greats.
By recording triple figures on Pakistani soil, Williamson became the first non-asian to score a test hundred in 10 countries.
Players such as Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Alastair Cook all had remarkable test careers, but never achieved a century in as many countries or in all four Asian nations with test cricket status.
Only Younis Khan (11 countries) sits ahead of Williamson, who shares second with Rahul Dravid, Mahela Jayawardene, Mohammad Yousuf, Saeed Anwar and Kumar Sangakkara.
New Black Caps captain Tim Southee declared on 612-9 as soon as Williamson reached 200. Pakistan were 77-2 at stumps on day four in Karachi, still trailing by 97 runs.
Despite this achievement and shaking off the shackles of captaincy, Williamson remained stoic when asked how he felt about it.
“It’s always a challenge,” Williamson said after his double ton. “All the countries are different, so I certainly wouldn’t put them all in the same group. But as a team, we’re always trying to adjust to the conditions to put a good performance on the board and it was a good few days.”
Williamson’s dedication to emphasising his team and their results over individual achievement has been a constant throughout his career and is an approach that has served him well.
The 32-year-old now boasts more double centuries — five — than any New Zealand batsman, breaking a tie with Brendon Mccullum, while also becoming the third man to score 200 in four consecutive years, joining Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu (19982001) and West Indian great Brian Lara (2003-06).
Williamson also became the 25th batsman to notch 25 test tons, pulling within one of Sir Garry Sobers and two of Allan Border and Graeme Smith on the all-time leaderboard.
Cricket pundits may now be marking September 2024 and May 2026 in their calendars as chances for Williamson to equal or even surpass Khan’s record for test centuries in different countries.
If Williamson is still playing test cricket, one-off tests scheduled in Afghanistan and Ireland represent opportunities to make more history.