Kane Williamson truly dazzled on Day 3 of the ongoing third and final Test between New Zealand and England at Seddon Park in Hamilton, as he smashed his 33rd century in grand style. The former New Zealand captain reached the landmark with a six.
By hammering a classy century against England, Kane Williamson scripted history as he became the first-ever batter to score five consecutive centuries at a single venue—Hamilton. His incredible stunning knock came after heavy rain had wiped out the morning session.
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But the iconic Kiwi batter wasted no time in taking control of New Zealand’s innings against England in the ongoing third and final Test. Just when Williamson was batting on 86, he was dropped by England’s Ollie Pope, and this lifeline allowed the Kiwi star to further extend his remarkable record at Seddon Park with this magnificent century, his fifth in a row.
Kane Williamson’s back-to-back Test hundreds in Hamilton:
200 vs Bangladesh (2019)
104 vs England (2019)
251 vs West Indies (2020)
133 vs South Africa (2024)
156 vs England (2024)
With his Hamilton century, Kane Williamson became the first batter in Test cricket history to score 5 consecutive centuries at a single venue. It was his 33rd Test century, his 20th in New Zealand, and his seventh at the iconic Seddon Park. Remarkably, he has now crossed fifty a total of 12 times in just 21 innings at this venue.
Kane Williamson overtakes Ross Taylor to achieve a big milestone in Test cricket
With this ton, he achieved several personal milestones in Test cricket. Kane Williamson became the first New Zealand batter to score seven Test hundreds at a single venue, surpassing the legendary Ross Taylor, who had six hundreds to his name in Test cricket. He joined an elite list of cricketers with multiple Test hundreds at a single venue, including Martin Crowe, who also managed five centuries at Wellington’s Basin Reserve.
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Overall, in Test cricket, only four players have more centuries at one venue than Williamson. Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene (11 in Colombo), Australia’s Sir Don Bradman (9 in Melbourne), South Africa’s Jacques Kallis (9 in Cape Town), and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (8 in Colombo) are the only players who have more tons than Kane at the same ground in the longest format of the game.
With his straight fifth Test ton in Hamilton, Williamson became the joint-fifth player to have smashed the most number of centuries at the same venue, and the other five greats are Michael Clarke (Adelaide), Mahela Jayawardene (Galle), Mominul Haque (Chattogram), Joe Root (Lord’s), and Kumar Sangakkara (Galle), who all have smashed seven Test hundreds at the same venue.
Kane Williamson joins Steve Smith, and trails only Joe Root in Fab Four
Meanwhile, Williamson joined his Australian counterpart, Steve Smith, by scoring his 33rd Test century, as they are jointly the second-highest century scorers in the format in this generation. Among the modern era’s ‘Fab Four,’ only England’s Joe Root (36) has more Test centuries than Williamson and Smith. Virat Kohli has 30 centuries to his name in Test cricket.
Notably, at the start of 2021, Kohli was leading the Fab Four chart with 27 Test centuries followed by Smith (26) , Williamson (24), and Root (17). But now, Root is leading the list with 36 Test tons, followed by Williamson (33*), Smith (33), and Kohli (30), thanks to the Indian batter’s struggle with the bat.
Williamson played a remarkable knock of 156 runs off 204 balls laced with 20 boundaries and one six to help New Zealand set the mountainous target of 640 runs to win the final Test for England in Hamilton.
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