Hamilton
The Black Caps captain resumed unbeaten on 93 and reached his ton early on day three, becoming the first New Zealander to score 20 Test centuries, before the host accelerated to its highest Test total in reply to Bangladesh’s 234 all out at Seddon Park.
Already top of New Zealand’s list for Test centuries scored, Williamson was in the middle with nightwatchman Neil Wagner when first raising his bat on Saturday, but he would do so again in the second session with the Black Caps declaring on 715-6, a whopping 481 runs ahead.
A New Zealand victory is likely on Sunday with Bangladesh hanging on to 174-4 at stumps, trailing by 307, after Wagner first removed Shadman Islam for 37, then Trent Boult struck to dismiss Mominul Haque (8) and Mohammad Mithun (0).
Tamim and Shadman showed fight in passing 50 for the first wicket for the second time in the match, but the tourists were demoralised following 163 overs in the field when the Black Caps scored freely at 4.38 runs an over in their record-breaking innings.
It was Seddon Park’s highest test total, New Zealand’s biggest first-innings lead in tests, and the second highest test total against Bangladesh after Sri Lanka’s 730-6 declared in Dhaka in January, 2014.
The Black Caps also bettered their previous highest test total of 690 set against Pakistan in Sharjah in November, 2014.
On Friday, openers Jeet Raval (132) and Tom Latham (161) shared 254 for New Zealand›s first wicket, breaking plenty of milestones, but Williamson would set even more after he brought up three figures in 143 balls.
The skipper, who passed 6000 runs in tests before lunch, led with consummate ease as the scoreboard looked uglier at every glancefor Bangladesh’s inexperienced bowlers.
Wagner chipped in with his best test score (47 from 35 balls) in a breezy knock that ended when debutant seamer Ebadat Hossain took his first test wicket from an edge through to wicketkeeper Liton Das.
BJ Watling then departed for 31, nicking one to Liton from spinner Mehidy Hasan, whose horrible final figures of 2-246 go down as the most runs conceded by a bowler in a test innings in New Zealand.
As Colin de Grandhomme played with his trademark gusto to rapidly reach his fifth test 50 (76 from 53 balls), Williamson batted on and on.
He cruised past Seddon Park’s highest individual test score (192) before reaching 200 off 257 balls having hit 19 fours – his last, a perfectly executed pull shot, bringing the declaration with the BlackCaps 715-6.
Williamson’s only previous double century was his unbeaten 242 against Sri Lanka in Wellington in 2015 – his highest test score.
With Williamson’s masterful knock, New Zealand’s top three had all scored centuries in the same innings of a Test for the first time since Mark Richardson (145), Lou Vincent (106) and Scott Styris (119) did so in a drawn match against India in Mohali in October 2003.
The feat had only happened on 12 occasions prior to Raval, Latham and Williamson repeating it for a 13th time, the second achieved by New Zealand, and the first since South Africa managed it against Bangladesh in Bloemfontein in October 2017.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 234 all-out and 174-4 (T Iqbal 74, T Boult 2/53) trail New Zealand 715/6 decl. (K Williamson 200*, T Latham 161, J Raval 132, S Sarkar 2-68) by 307 runs.
NZ’s five highest Test innings
715-6 decl v Bangladesh at Seddon Park, Hamilton in February 2019
690 v Pakistan in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates in November 2014
680-8 dec v India at Basin Reserve, Wellington in February 2014
671-4 v Sri Lanka at Basin Reserve, Wellington in January 1991
630-6 decl v India in Mohali, India in October 2003
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