Kane Williamson’s reputation as being a man for a crisis has long been known and the New Zealand skipper was it at again on Saturday with a superb century under pressure against the West Indies.
The Kiwi skipper had registered a brilliant unbeaten ton against South Africa to take his side to victory in a thrilling 2019 ICC World Cup clash recently and he followed it up with another century of the highest quality against the Windies at Old Trafford.
Williamson arrived at the crease on Saturday with his side in a spot of bother after Sheldon Cottrell removed both New Zealand openers for golden ducks in the very first over of the match.
The right-hander stabilised the Kiwi innings in the company of Ross Taylor by stitching together a 160-run stand for the third wicket before bringing up his 13th ODI hundred. Though Windies hit back with some important dismissals, Williamson continued to march on before he was dismissed for 148 by Cottrell.
It was the New Zealand skipper’s highest ODI score and it helped his side post a challenging 291-9 ultimately despite being 7-2 at one stage.
The 28-year-old’s form has been getting better with each passing match with his tournament tally now extending to 373 runs.
WILLIAMSON’S UNBEATEN RUN COMES TO AN END
Williamson’s dismissal by Cottrell in the 47th over of the New Zealand innings brought to an end to a 390-ball unbeaten run by the New Zealand stalwart.
Since being dismissed on 40 by Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan Miraz on June 5, Williamson had registered unbeaten scores of 79 and 106 respectively against Afghanistan and South Africa before coming into the clash against Windies.
On Saturday, his 154-ball stay at the crease meant that it had taken a total of 390 deliveries between Williamson’s two dismissals in the ongoing World Cup. In between those dismissals, a total of 213 wickets fell in the 2019 World Cup according to a statistic by The CricViz Analyst.
The right-hander has now scored a total of 373 runs in four innings in the World Cup at a staggering average of 186.50.
Since Kane Williamson was last dismissed, 213 wickets have fallen in this World Cup. #CWC19
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) June 22, 2019
WILLIAMSON’S ENGLAND LOVE AFFAIR CONTINUES
The Kiwi skipper simply loves batting in English conditions and his 148 against the Windies is now the fourth ODI century he has registered in the country in just 14 innings.
It is the joint-highest number of ODI tons scored by any visiting batsman in England and it pulls Williamson level alongside the likes of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.
For reference, Williamson has scored only four ODI tons on New Zealand soil. His last 11 ODI innings have yielded scores of 148, 106, 79, 40, 57, 87, 100, 50, 90, 118 and 93.
4 - Kane Williamson now has as many ODI centuries in England (4 in 14 knocks) as he does in New Zealand (4 in 71). Comparison. #WIvNZ #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/EYwLftm1He
— OptaJim (@OptaJim) June 22, 2019
TON AGAINST ALL-TEST PLAYING NATIONS
With his latest century against West Indies, Williamson has joined an exclusive club of batsmen who have registered centuries against all 10 Test playing nations including Afghanistan and Ireland.
He is the third New Zealand batsman to do so after Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill.
Kane Williamson became the 11th batsman to score ODI centuries against all the first 10 Test playing nations.
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) June 22, 2019
Other 10:
Gibbs
Ponting
Tendulkar
Amla
Kohli
AB de Villiers
Guptill
Ross Taylor
Tharanga
Rohit Sharma#NZvWI #CWC19
