Former New Zealand Test captain Kane Williamson is on fire these days. After he played a match-winning innings of 121 runs from 194 balls against Sri Lanka in the second innings of the first Test earlier this week that helped India secure a place in the World Test Championship final, the 32-year-old right-handed batter scored 215 runs from 296 balls on Saturday (March 18) against the Islanders in the first innings of the second Test, which is currently underway at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.
During his incredible innings of 215 runs, the right-handed batter created history by becoming the first ever New Zealand batter to score 8000 runs in Test cricket. He now has 8124 runs to his name from 164 innings in 94 Tests. His Test batting average is 54.89, which is even better than the likes of Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar.
Apart from scoring 8000 Test runs, Williamson, who stepped down from the role of New Zealand Test captain last year in December, also equaled Virat’s record of scoring 28 centuries in Test cricket. The 34-year-old Virat scored his 28th Test century earlier this week against Australia during the fourth Test of the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which was played at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Kane’s 215 on Saturday was his sixth double century in Test cricket, and with it, he has now equaled Sachin and former Australian captain Ricky Ponting’s record of scoring six 200-plus scores in the five-day format of the game.
In the list of leading double century makers in world cricket, he is at the joint fifth spot. The record for scoring the most double centuries in Test cricket belongs to Sir Donald Bradman, who during his playing days scored 12 double centuries. He is followed by former Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara, who has scored 11 200-plus scores. At No. 3, we have West Indies legend Brian Lara with nine. Virat, former England batter Wally Hammond, and Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene are joint fourth with seven double centuries each.
MOST DOUBLE CENTURIES IN TEST MATCHES
| PLAYER | COUNTRY | TIME SPAN | MATCHES | RUNS | AVERAGE | BEST SCORE | 100/50 | 200 |
| Sir Donald Bradman | Australia | 1928-1948 | 52 | 6996 | 99.94 | 334 | 29/13 | 12 |
| Kumar Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 2000-2015 | 134 | 12400 | 57.40 | 319 | 38/52 | 11 |
| Brian Lara | West Indies | 1990-2006 | 131 | 11953 | 52.88 | 400* | 34/48 | 9 |
| Wally Hammond | England | 1927-1947 | 85 | 7249 | 58.45 | 336* | 22/24 | 7 |
| Virat Kohli | India | 2011-2023 | 108 | 8416 | 48.93 | 254* | 28/28 | 7 |
| Mahela Jayawardene | Sri Lanka | 1997-2014 | 149 | 11814 | 49.84 | 374 | 34/50 | 7 |
| Marvan Atapattu | Sri Lanka | 1990-2007 | 90 | 5502 | 39.02 | 249 | 16/17 | 6 |
| Kane Williamson | New Zealand | 2010-2023 | 94* | 8114 | 54.89 | 251 | 28/33 | 6 |
| Virender Sehwag | India | 2001-2013 | 104 | 8586 | 49.34 | 319 | 23/32 | 6 |
| Javed Miandad | Pakistan | 1976-1993 | 124 | 8832 | 52.57 | 280* | 23/43 | 6 |
| Younis Khan | Pakistan | 2000-2017 | 118 | 10099 | 52.05 | 314 | 34/33 | 6 |
| Ricky Ponting | Australia | 1995-2012 | 168 | 13378 | 51.85 | 257 | 41/62 | 6 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | India | 1989-2013 | 200 | 15921 | 53.78 | 248* | 51/68 | 6 |
The ongoing Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka is the last bilateral match in the 2021–23 World Test Championship cycle. However, it won’t have any impact on the two finalists, as both of them are out of the running.
