New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson and Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc yesterday joined elite company as bat continued to dominate ball on the third day of the second Test against Australia at the WACA Ground.
In reply to Australia’s formidable 559-9 declared on a placid wicket, New Zealand were 510-6 at stumps, trailing by just 49 runs.
Ross Taylor had emerged from a form slump and scored his second Test double century to be a career-best 235 not out, with Mark Craig on seven.
Photo: AP
Williamson became one of the four youngest players to reach 12 Test centuries when he made 166, while Starc bowled what is believed to be the fastest recorded delivery in Test cricket.
Williamson rarely looked troubled in posting his second century in as many matches, before mistiming a pull shot off Josh Hazlewood and was caught at mid-on by Mitchell Johnson to end a record 265-run stand with Taylor, a new benchmark for New Zealand in Tests against Australia.
He faced 250 balls in 390 minutes and hit 24 boundaries.
Photo: AFP
The 25-year-old made 140 and 59 in the first Test at the Gabba, which New Zealand lost by 208 runs, and continued that form in Perth.
It was his 12th Test century and only three other players have scored as many centuries at the same age: Sachin Tendulkar (16); Don Bradman (13); and Alastair Cook (12).
Williamson has made centuries in five of his last seven Tests against Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England and Australia, and in that time he has scored 1,118 runs at 111.80.
Taylor was a little less sure at the crease and flirted with disaster on a couple of occasions, but recovered to post his 13th Test hundred and looked increasingly comfortable during his innings.
It was a welcome performance for the classy Taylor, who has been struggling with form for some time and had not scored a Test century since November last year.
In a game where records have been tumbling with incredible regularity, Taylor posted a new benchmark for visiting players at the WACA and also became the first New Zealand cricketer to score a Test double century against Australia.
Starc raised the home crowd from its run-fueled stupor when he sent down a 160.4kph thunderbolt to Taylor before tea.
It was part of a fiery spell from the left-armer and was the fourth-fastest delivery ever recorded, with Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar holding the record at 161.3kph.
Australia duo Brett Lee and Shaun Tait both once clocked at 161.1kph, and 1970s firebrand Jeff Thomson is the only other player recorded at more than 160kph.
However, none of that group performed the feat in Test cricket.
Fellow paceman Mitchell Johnson moved into fourth on the all-time list of Australian Test wicket-takers when he removed Doug Bracewell late in the day to claim his 311th scalp, passing Brett Lee.
Australia did not help their own cause with some dropped catches, while there was embarrassment for local officials early in the day, with play halted for 17 minutes by a malfunctioning sight screen.
INDIA VS SOUTH AFRICA
Reuters, BANGALORE, India
Steady rain yesterday washed out the entire second day’s play in the second Test between India and South Africa, with the weather forecast for the next two days casting a cloud of doubt over the possibility of a result.
Having bowled out South Africa for 214 and knocking off 80 runs without losing any wicket on Saturday, the hosts were keen on putting up a big first innings total, but the inclement weather played spoilsport.
After the early showers relented, the start was pushed back by an hour to 10:30am and the players walked out to warm up for action.
However, the rain returned soon thereafter, resulting first in an early lunch before play was called off for the day.
If the weather permits tomorrow, “Play will start at 9.15 am IST,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India said on Twitter.
More rain and thunderstorms have been predicted for the next two days, jeopardizing the possibility of a result in the contest.
While this is surely not how South African talisman A.B. de Villiers expected his 100th Test to pan out, the Proteas are unlikely to mind the rain intervention.
Beaten inside three days in the first Test on a turning track in Mohali, India, the visitors still seem in a spin funk with eight of their batsmen surrendering to the Indian spinners in their first innings at Bangalore.
Currently the top ranked test Team, South Africa have not lost an away series since 2006, but Hashim Amla’s team find themselves on the back foot in the four-Test series in India.
Apart from the batsmen’s vulnerability to spin, the absence of injured pacemen Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander has also taken much of the sting off their pace attack.
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