Andrew Alderson and Dylan Cleaver discuss the permutations of the Black Caps potentially going to the top of the world rankings - officially rather than provisionally - and making the world championship final if they beat Pakistan in the 2nd cricket test at Christchurch. Video / Andrew Alderson
OPINION:
It was possible, amid all the deserved noise about Neil Wagner's broken toes and Tim Southee's 300th test wicket, to overlook Kane Williamson's influence on New Zealand's cricket victory over a stubborn Pakistan.
Yes, he was named man of the match for his 129, made after the Black Capshad lost both openers cheaply and he was shifted up the essentially meaningless world test batsman rankings to number one.
But such is Williamson's quiet demeanour and team-comes-first attitude that it is easy to almost forget he's there, even when man of the match.
These days, we are so used to his excellence we are in danger of taking him for granted. As the late Clive James once said: "It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are."
It's probably a bit unfair to compare Williamson to a machine but, watching his 23rd test ton, it was hard to avoid the feeling the New Zealand skipper has become even more rhythmically efficient in recent times.
Don't let Kane Williamson's calm demeanour fool you - he's been silently assassinating the world's best bowlers for years. Photo / Photosport
That defence… maybe you have to be a traditionalist or a technical tragic to appreciate it, but it is astonishingly good.
The swivel, twisting at the torso with shouldered-arms bat, is like a matador's flourish as he impeccably picks the line and movement of a ball outside off stump to leave. Only cricket, of all sports, can produce beauty in deliberately avoiding scoring.
Former skipper Brendon McCullum, known for the explosiveness of his batting, put it succinctly: "Kane kills you slowly."
His 129 against Pakistan may not rank all that highly in the pantheon of his test centuries but it oozed complete control. It is hard to remember seeing him under pressure in recent times.
Williamson now lies 27th on the all-time table of most test centuries, still cricket's best determination of batting talent and achievement. He is poised to join and overtake names like Viv Richards and Greg Chappell.
There is a measure, however, which places Williamson much higher in the ranks of the greats, not used by officialdom but highly relevant: century strike rate (number of test innings divided by centuries made, giving an average of how many innings each batsman plays between hundreds).
Kane Williamson celebrates a century in his test debut against India in 2010. Photo / Photosport
Williamson scores a century every six-and-a-bit innings. It's clear this particular measure is influenced by number of innings played – the fewer the better. However, it remains to be seen how many tons he and the only other two active players (Virat Kohli and Steve Smith) end up scoring and at what rate.
New Zealand play fewer test matches than many other cricketing nations and Williamson's new fatherhood could make a difference.
His new team will exert a different kind of cultural pressure and maybe he will throttle back on the game's shorter forms at some stage.
He will be 31 this year although Ross Taylor – coming up 37 – has shown that the 30s are by no means the beginnings of descent; he has scored six centuries and two double centuries in the years since his 31st birthday.
Williamson's last six test innings have been 89, 3, 5, 251, 129 and 21 – including his highest test score. The 21 came when he was giving it a bit of a lash looking for quick runs; the team, always the team…
That's a century strike rate of 3.0 at an average of 83.0. He is said not to be motivated by personal milestones and achievements – but I sure as hell am; it will be fascinating watching his progress in cricket's most exacting form of the game and his rise up the legions of the greats.
All-time century strike rates
1. Don Bradman – 2.76 innings per century 2. Steve Smith – 5.19 3. Virat Kohli – 5.44 4. Matthew Hayden – 6.13 5. Garfield Sobers – 6.15 6. Kane Williamson - 6.22 7. Jacques Kallis – 6.22 8. Yousuf Khan – 6.26 9. Ricky Ponting – 6.27 10. Sunil Gavaskar – 6.29
