HAMILTON: Kane Williamson scored a magisterial 156 at his most productive venue to drive New Zealand to the brink of a consolation victory over England at the end of the third day of the third Test in Hamilton on Monday.

After the opening session was lost to wet weather, Williamson led the way under the Seddon Park lights as the Black Caps took their lead from 340 to 657 before England finally bowled them out for 453 in the final hour.

England, who have secured series honours after big wins in Christchurch and Wellington, reached 18 for two at the close of play with Jacob Bethell, on nine not out, and scoreless Joe Root at the crease still 640 runs from their unlikely target.

England could also be a man short in their chase as captain Ben Stokes left the contest with a hamstring injury and is not certain to bat.

Tim Southee, playing on his home ground in his final test, got one of the biggest cheers of the day when he came out to bat in the New Zealand tail but holed out for two chasing his 99th six in Tests.

The crowd erupted again soon afterwards when he fired a delivery down the off side at Ben Duckett and the England opener got a thick inside edge onto his stumps for four.

“Any moment you take a wicket for New Zealand, it’s always a special time .. it’s a feeling that I’ll certainly miss,” said Southee. “The next couple of days will hopefully be a good couple of days, but I’m sure an emotional couple of days as well.”

Duckett’s opening partner Zak Crawley followed for five when Matt Henry trapped him in front in the penultimate over of the day to further drive home New Zealand’s advantage.

On a day spent waiting for a declaration that never came, Daryl Mitchell (60), Mitchell Santner (49), Rachin Ravindra (44) and Tom Blundell (44 not out) all made valuable contributions with the bat but Williamson was a class above.

The 34-year-old resumed on 50 with New Zealand 136-3 and had a couple of nervy moments, not least an lbw appeal from Brydon Carse when he was on 73 that was turned down but judged an umpire’s call on review.

He shared a 107-run fourth-wicket partnership with Ravindra as he patiently moved towards his 33rd test century and seventh in 12 matches at Seddon Park.

Williamson threw off the shackles as he approached the century mark for the fifth Test in a row in Hamilton, smashing Bethell’s occasional spin straight down the ground for a six to reach the mark from 137 balls.

Another partnership of 92 with Mitchell put the lead well beyond the record successful fourth-innings run chase of 418 achieved by West Indies against Australia at St John’s in 2003.

Williamson glided through to 150 before finally departing attempting a sweep off Shoaib Bashir but only finding the substitute fielder in the deep.

Bethell was England’s best bowler with figures of three for 72 after removing Mitchell for his maiden Test wicket and sending back Southee and Henry with the last two deliveries of the innings.

SCOREBOARD

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings) 347 (M. Santner 76; M. Potts 4-90)

ENGLAND (1st Innings) 143 (J. Root 32; M. Henry 4-48)

NEW ZEALAND (2nd Innings, overnight 136-3):

T. Latham b Atkinson 19

W. Young c Bethell b Stokes 60

K. Williamson c (sub) b Bashir 156

W. O’Rourke c Pope b Stokes 0

R. Ravindra c Carse b Potts 44

D. Mitchell c Potts b Bethell 60

T. Blundell not out 44

G. Phillips c Carse b Bashir 3

M. Santner c Bashir b Root 49

T. Southee c Crawley b Bethell 2

M. Henry b Bethell 0

EXTRAS (B-12, LB-3, W-1) 16

TOTAL (all out, 101.4 overs) 453

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-35 (Latham), 2-124 (Young), 3-128 (O’Rourke), 4-235 (Ravindra), 5-327 (Williamson), 6-375 (Mitchell), 7-380 (Phillips), 8-443 (Santner), 9-453 (Southee)

BOWLING: Potts 16-4-64-1, Atkinson 9-4-16-1, Carse 11-2-34-0 (1w), Stokes 12.2-1-52-2, Bashir 36-1-170-2, Bethell 14.2-0-72-3, Brook 2-0-13-0, Root 1-0-17-1

ENGLAND (2nd Innings):

Z. Crawley lbw b Henry 5

B. Duckett b Southee 4

J. Bethell not out 9

TOTAL (for two wickets, six overs) 18

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-8 (Duckett), 2-18 (Crawley)

STILL TO BAT: J. Root, H, Brook, O. Pope, B. Stokes, G. Atkinson, B. Carse, M. Potts, S. Bashir

BOWLING: Henry 3-0-14-1, Southee 2-1-4-1, O’Rourke 1-1-0-0

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2024