New Zealand icon Kane Williamson stamped his authority in the ongoing New Zealand vs England 3rd Test match at Seddon Park, Hamilton. Williamson, who had missed the India series due to a groin strain, slammed his 33rd Test ton as New Zealand toiled England bowlers on Day 3 of the Hamilton Test.
Williamson smashed 156 at a healthy scoring rate of 75 with his knock helping New Zealand put up a mammoth target against the visitors. The former skipper got to his hundred with a six off Jacob Bethell straight down the ground and ended his innings on 156 from 204 balls, a knock which featured 20 fours and one six.
En route to his 156, Williamson became the first New Zealand player to get to 5000 runs in Test cricket. He needed only 14 runs to get to the milestone coming into this innings. His knock helped New Zealand set a daunting target of 658 against England in the fourth innings.
While he is the first New Zealand player to hit 5000 runs at home, he is 16th overall in the world. The list is led by Ricky Ponting, who had made 7578 Test runs at home with Sachin Tendulkar on second with 7216 runs. With his 33rd Test hundred, the 34-year-old has equalled Alastair Cook and Steve Smith for the most centuries in the format.
Most Test centuries by active players in Test cricket:
1 - Joe Root: 36 centuries in 152 Tests
2 - Kane Williamson: 33 centuries in 105 Tests
3 - Steve Smith: 33 centuries in 112 Tests
4 - Virat Kohli: 30 centuries in 121 Tests
5 - Cheteshwar Pujara: 19 centuries in 103 Tests
This was his 11th ton in the World Test Championship history, which is the joint second-most alongside Marnus Labuschagne and only behind Joe Root's 18.
Players with most centuries in WTC history:
Joe Root (England) - 18 (in 116 innings)
Kane Williamson (New Zealand) - 11 (51 innings)
Marnus Labuschagne (Australia) - 11 (86 innings)
Steve Smith (Australia) - 10 (82* innings)
Rohit Sharma (India) - 9 (66 innings)
Williamson has surpassed Smith on the list of most International centuries. This was his 46th ton across format, and he now sits in fourth place with the most International tons by active players.
