Former New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson made his comeback to international cricket and right away impressed with a 93-run knock for his team in the ongoing first Test against England at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. For the unversed, this is also the landmark Test match for Joe Root who is featuring for the 150th time for England in the format.
Williamson came out to bat in the third over itself with Gus Atkinson nipping out the opener Devon Conway in the second over of the innings. He tackled the challenging period first up and then looked sublime during his stay in the middle. He stitched crucial partnerships with Rachin Ravindra, Tom Latham and Daryl Mitchell to put the Kiwis in the driver's seat.
The 34-year-old looked prime to score his 33rd Test century before Atkinson came back for a spell with the old ball and got the better of him. Unfortunately, he missed the three-figure mark by just seven runs but left the fans and experts in awe with 10 fours he smashed. At the same time, he also missed a personal landmark of 9000 Test runs by just 26 runs and is now expected to complete it in the second innings.
As far as the match is concerned, New Zealand ended the opening day at 319/8 after 83 overs with Glenn Phillips and Tim Southee fighting hard in the middle. The duo has added 21 runs for the ninth wicket and will be hoping to add more on the second morning. Surprisingly, Shoaib Bashir was the best of England bowlers picking up four wickets with Atkinson and Brydon Carse accounting for a couple each.
Playing XIs
New Zealand - Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Nathan Smith, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, William ORourke
England - Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope (wk), Ben Stokes (c), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Shoaib Bashir
