Decoding Kane Williamson's incredible stats in fourth innings (Test cricket)
What's the story
New Zealand batter Kane Williamson helped the hosts bag a thrilling win over Sri Lanka in the first Test in Christchurch. He scored a fantastic fourth-innings ton as the Kiwis chased down the target of 285 and won by two wickets. Williamson did put on a batting exhibition as he scored a well-paced knock of 121* under immense pressure. Here are the stats.
Match summary
How did the match pan out?
Batting first, SL scored 355 as captain Dimuth Karunaratne (50) and Kusal Mendis (87) smoked half-centuries. Tim Southee claimed a fifer. While the hosts posted 373 in reply, Daryl Mitchell (102)and Matt Henry (72)were the top contributors. Angelo Mathews' 115 powered SL to 302 in their second innings. Chasing 285, Williamson's heroics helped the hosts cross the line on the final ball.
Tons
Second-highest fourth innings hundreds
Williamson's 121* was his fourth Test hundred in the fourth innings. Scoring the ton against SL helped him match batters like Ricky Ponting, Sunil Gavaskar, Ramnaresh Sarwan, and Graeme Smith, who all have four Test hundreds in the fourth innings. They are all jointly second-highest in this regard. Only Pakistan's Younis Khan is ahead of them with five Test hundreds in the final innings.
Fourth-innings record
Here's a look at Williamson's fourth innings numbers
Williamson has come out to bat 23 times in the fourth innings, slamming 885 runs. He has also smoked four centuries and four fifties in the fourth innings. Williamson's fourth innings average of 55.31 is the fourth-highest after Geoffrey Boycott, Gavaskar, and Jack Hobbs. Only these batters with 750-plus runs in the fourth innings have a higher average than him.
Record
Joint-second-most fourth-inning tons in successful chases
Out of Williamson's four fourth-inning centuries, three of them have come while chasing in a winning cause. He matched Ponting in this regard, who has also scored three fourth-inning tons in a successful chase. They are only behind SA's Smith, who slammed four fourth-innings hundreds, and all of the tons came while chasing successfully.
Home stats
Only NZ batter to score 4,000 Test runs at home
Courtesy of his ton against SL, Williamson has raced to 4,052 Test runs at home. Hence, he is now the only NZ batter to score 4,000-plus runs at home in the longest format. He has the fourth-highest average (64.31) by a player in home Tests. Williamson is only behind Don Bradman, Garry Sobers, and Steve Smith in this regard.