Kane Williamson guides Black Caps to series sweep over South Africa
Friday, 16 February 2024
Second test, Seddon Park, Hamilton: South Africa 242 and 235 lost to New Zealand 211 and 269-3 (Kane Williamson 133 not out, Will Young 60no; Dane Piedt 3-93) by seven wickets. Click here for full scoreboard
New Zealand win second test vs South Africa
Kane Williamson scores his 32nd test century
Black Caps claim first series win over the Proteas
Who else but Kane Williamson?
In the form of his life, the former Black Caps test captain led from the front with the bat to guide them to a maiden series win over South Africa.
Williamson delivered his 32nd test century, and with it, a seven-wicket victory over the visitors in Hamilton on Friday.
He finished unbeaten on 133, and put on a match-sealing unbroken fourth-wicket partnership worth 152 with Will Young (60 not out) to clinch the win with more than a day to spare.
New Zealand resumed their second innings on day four at 40-1, needing a further 227 runs for victory and a 2-0 series triumph at Seddon Park.
Williamson had come to the crease at the start of play on Friday, after opener Devon Conway’s dismissal brought about stumps on day three.
In what was initially a nervy pursuit of the largest successful fourth-innings chase at the venue in its test history, the right-hander oozed calm as he registered his seventh test ton - one of which was a double-century - from his past 12 innings and seven tests.
It brought about a series sweep for New Zealand, and the first win in 17 series between the two rivals from their first meeting in 1932.
The Black Caps were expected to see off a visiting side that was without more than a dozen first-choice squad members if they hadn’t been instructed to play in the country’s T20 league instead.
But after romping to victory by 281 runs in the first test in Mount Maunganui the previous week, they were pushed closer than they should have in the second clash.
Williamson, who made dual centuries at Bay Oval and 43 in the first innings in Hamilton, had some narrow escapes, but amid them displayed his usual unruffled assurance to reach 50 from 113 balls and then got to the big landmark from 203 deliveries.
It was his fifth fourth-innings test century, putting him level at the top of the list of that achievement with Pakistan’s Younis Khan.
It seems nothing can put the 33-year-old off his stride at present, as he drew level with the Australian duo of Steve Waugh and Steve Smith in 11th place on the list of most test tons.
His wife Sarah is due to give birth soon to their third child, and Williamson posted last weekend on Instagram that the family dog Sandy, aged 16, had died.
Parental leave will mean Williamson will miss the three-game T20 series against Australia starting on Wednesday, but he will return for the two tests.
South Africa’s captain Neil Brand, who took eight wickets in the first test, surprisingly opted not to bowl himself during New Zealand’s pursuit, after two specialist spinners were selected for the second-test XI.
New Zealand’s battle to subdue the much-weakened Proteas won’t have convinced many that they’re now ready to score their first series win over Australia since 1990 when the trans-Tasman rivals contest the first test at the end of the month in Wellington.
But for now, they’re simply happy that they did what was expected of them in this series - thanks hugely to the greatest batter this country has witnessed.