When Kane Williamson came of Age

Williamson is unique amongst that group of New Zealanders who scored a century on debut.  He now has 16 of them; the next on the list is Scott Styris with four.

Scott Stryris who made his test debut batting at #8, and as a third seamer who could bat a bit.

The list of centurions on debut who never quite kicked on seems almost like the kind of club of players symbolizing what being a New Zealand cricket fan is all about.

It is fronted by the legendary career of Rodney Redmond. 107 & 56 on debut; it’s hard to see anyone surpassing him for a test career average.  He then toured England in 1973 and got ousted by, um, John Parker.

Then there’s Mat Sinclair.  The ultimate example of exaggerated early promise and hope.

Mark Greatbatch and Bruce Taylor even.  Adding colour, let’s put Lou Vincent into the mix.

And, to provide some modern relevance, there’s Hamish Rutherford.

In short, if you make a test century on debut for New Zealand it doesn’t necessarily mean you are in for a good time of it.

Kane Williamson had scored 131 on debut against India and a very young star was born.  In his next 19 innings he averaged 26 and passed 50, just, on four occasions.  That stretch even included a test against Zimbabwe.

The third test against South Africa in late March 2012 was the last time the two teams met at the Basin Reserve before the second test starting tomorrow.

It was also when that streak ended. New Zealand had been humiliated in Hamilton the week before (including losing 5 for 0 in the first innings) and things were looking a bit grim.

New Zealand won the toss and had the tourists 1/13.  All good.  They were then to rack up 474/9.  Alviro Peterson scored 156 (where is he now?) and Mark Gillespie took a 6 for, in what turned out to be his final test.

New Zealand then went about the modern unorthodoxy of avoiding the follow-on, and they achieved it by one run.  Highest score being Guptill (opening) with 59.  They lost Taylor through injury in the process.

Naturally, South Africa batted on for too long in the second innings.  They had won the series but seemed to forget about the much sought after ICC Test Rankings top spot that awaited them had they achieved the win.

Never mind; New Zealand, without Taylor, was soon 32/3 and then 83/5 as they battled away in the Wellington mist and Morne Morkel.  But this was when Williamson showed us what he was made of.

He was battered all over, but kept the strike, and gutsed his way to a memorable draw.

Morkel finished the test with 6/23 off 16.4 but this was the innings that defined Williamson’s career.