Williamson's fifth Test century of the year gives NZ 2-0 series win over SL
Kane Williamson, New Zealand's best batsman, scored his fifth Test century as the Kiwis won the second Test of the two-match series against Sri Lanka by five wickets in Hamilton. Needing to reach 189, the target, New Zealand just needed 47 more to win as they resumed the fourth day on 142/5.
At the start of the day, Williamson needed 22 runs to reach his fifth century of the year in Tests and he brought it up in style – with a boundary.
As he reached his century, Williamson achieved many-a-milestone. His 108 runs off 164 balls helped him take his Test runs tally for the year to 1172 runs, which is the highest for any batsman from New Zealand in a calendar year. Williamson’s captain, Brendon McCullum was the one who held that record previously when he scored 1164 runs in 2014.
Williamson has now scored 2633 runs in all internationals this year so far. He has three more ODIs to play as the one-day series against Sri Lanka starts on Boxing Day.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed that Williamson has now overtaken AB de Villiers, Joe Root and Steven Smith as the Number 1 batsman in Test rankings. His average of 90.15 in Tests for the year speaks volumes of how great a year the 25-year-old has had.
After dominating the Test match for more than two days, Sri Lanka will feel hard done by as they gave away a great opportunity to equalise the Test series. A 55-run lead in the first innings and a 71-run opening stand by the Sri Lankan openers would have all but settled the matter for the visitors.
But, Sri Lanka lost ten wickets for just 62 runs and gave the home side a target of 189, which in itself was not a very easy one on a track that assisted pace and bounce. Dushmantha Chameera continued to carry on his good form from the first innings as he made life difficult for the Kiwis as he picked up the first four wickets to end the match with nine scalps.
A resolute Williamson, however, had other ideas and showed why he has, arguably, been the 2015's best batsman. His innings included 12 fours and one six as he timed the ball to perfection and played with class and elegance. BJ Watling gave Williamson much-needed support as he stood strong at the other end.
With this victory, New Zealand take their home win stretch to 13 matches since March 2012. Sri Lanka's bad form in New Zealand continued as they still remain on two wins from 17 attempts since 1983.
The five-match ODI series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka begins on December 26th which is to be followed by two T20Is on January 7, 2016, and January 10, 2016.
Scorecard:
SL 1st innings – 292 all out (Mathews 77, Siriwardana 62; Southee 3/63, Boult 2/51)
NZ 1st innings – 237 all out (Guptill 50; Chameera 5/47)
SL 2nd innings – 133 all out (Kusal Mendi 46; Southee 4/26, Wagner 3/40)
NZ 2nd innings (target:189) – 189/5
| Batsman | Runs |
| Tom Latham | 4 (9) |
| Martin Guptill | 1 (16) |
| Kane Williamson | 108* (164) |
| Ross Taylor | 35 (53) |
| Brendon McCullum | 18 (35) |
| Mitchell Santner | 4 (19) |
| BJ Watling | 13* (36) |
Bowling:
| Bowler | Overs | Runs | Wickets |
| Dushmantha Chameera | 17 | 68 | 4 |
| Suranga Lakmal | 12 | 20 | 1 |
| Rangana Herath | 11 | 48 | 0 |
| Nuwan Pradeep | 12 | 43 | 0 |
| Angelo Mathews | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Milinda Siriwardana | 1.3 | 5 | 0 |