No.4 in Wisden’s men’s Test innings of 2023 is Kane Williamson’s masterful 121 not out that helped New Zealand chase 285 at Christchurch. Abhishek Mukherjee looks back at one of the finest performances by an old warhorse.
Wisden’s men’s Test innings of 2023, No.4: Kane Williamson – 121 not out
New Zealand v England
First Test of two-match series
Hagley Oval, Christchurch, March 12-13
Kane Williamson is waiting in the goal area. He has been here since the evening of the fourth day and has cleared out a good portion of these 285 himself, but his work is not yet finished. There is still one over left in the Test match. New Zealand need him eight points, but Matt he’s just one step behind Henry.
In short, Mr. Williamson has to do it himself. It’s not the first time for him. This is his 400th point in the fourth innings of a Test match. For comparison, the only other New Zealander with hundreds is Bevan Condon (2). Younis Khan (age 5) is the only person in the world who can boast of consecutive awards spanning centuries.
Asiteja Fernando bowls. This is only his eighth Test match, but he has already taken seven wickets in this match, having defeated Bangladesh by 10 wickets in the match at Spinners’ Haven Mirpur. He won’t make it easy for you.
Williamson hit the first ball too far. The moment he hits the shot he sees that there are two runs. There are two of him in this sprint, but he slipped when he turned around.
Sri Lanka missed an opportunity to persuade Henry to attack. The batter scurries back. New Zealand need four to six balls. Sri Lanka, three wickets.
On the next ball, Henry’s second run strike is not enough to beat Kasun Rajitha’s throw from mid-wicket and both teams move closer and closer to the goal.
Neil Wagner leaves home on his 37th birthday. He has hit more sixes than Williamson in Test cricket, hitting 27 off 24 balls in the first innings of this match. Sure he can walk around, but can he run? As is common with Wagner, he’s been dealing with injuries, so this move could backfire if Williamson can’t find the perimeter.
Dimmu Karunaratne knows this. He knows Wagner probably won’t be able to throw the entire two yards, so he pushes the fielder back to the fence. He takes both men to the deep end. All Fernando has to do is bowl full and wide outside off-stump. That’s exactly what he’s doing.
Sri Lanka has thought through this plan and implemented it. Because only the best can overcome this gap, and it doesn’t happen every time they step out to bat. Williamson is an undeniably talented cricketer, but has the fatigue of batting all day caught up with him?
The bat blinks in the dim light. His wrist movements are so fast that you can’t understand how he did it unless you slow down the video. The ball detects boundaries so accurately that geometry teachers can demonstrate how to bisect using a video of the stroke.
Even without the context of the game, this is a great shot.
“Just the calmness at which he does it”. Tim Southee reflects on Kane Williamson’s 121* at Hagley Oval. #NZvSL pic.twitter.com/7KE8H4SyT8
– BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) 14.メルツ 2023
The result is the same. Sri Lanka cannot win now. New Zealand fans are celebrating their team’s qualification to the final of the World Test Championship more than their Indian counterparts.
However, there is still a possibility of a draw. With little to lose, Fernando decided to literally go for his jugular, but the ball flew too high. He looks for a vision, but nothing comes of it. The best score Sri Lanka can hope for at the moment is a draw.
New Zealand is safe, but Williamson isn’t satisfied with that. Fernando also dug the last ball short and you can see why. It would be fine if we could get Williamson, but even if we don’t get him, putting him on the back burner will delay our efforts on the most important singles.
Williamson pulled back and missed, but Niroshan Dickwella also tried to carry Wagner on his injured leg. Why didn’t he retire when he was sure the ball wasn’t coming? – towards the end of the striker.
Fernando intercepts the trajectory of the ball in the middle of the field. He tries the stumps on the non-striker side. He was in a position where he had a perfect view of the stumps, so he attacked but couldn’t beat the dive. As the giant screen confirms all this, Wagner hugs Williamson.
Statisticians are examining the archives. Williamson has now completed 300 chases. Only Graham Smith (four) and Ricky Ponting (three) reach this figure, while Williamson has only fought nine times. This is less than half of Smith’s 22 and Ponting’s 24.
And only twice in history have New Zealand chased a bigger target, once against Bangladesh in the first decade of Test cricket.
A thriller in Christchurch. #NZvSL pic.twitter.com/7hv2j4bEjJ
– BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) 13.メルツ 2023
Williamson took to the plate on the fourth night after Devon Conway went down early. The team was 90-3 until Darryl Mitchell hit back on the final morning, hitting 81 of 86 balls in a 142-pitch partnership.
When Mitchell fell, New Zealand had just 53 wickets in hand to take the first of Fernando’s treble with just over 30 minutes to go. That goal reduced his score to 17 to 19 when Fernando beat Tom Blundell and Michael his Bracewell.
New Zealand had made it clear that they would not settle for a draw, so Sri Lanka, who were close to advancing to the final, could have won from there.
Williamson had scored 107 by then without changing gears. He was almost overtaken by Mitchell but was unfazed by the wicket at the other end. Now he was in charge.
Sri Lanka got two of the four wickets required but could not get the wicket to win the match.
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