Steady The Ship can hit rare cricket feat in Bangladesh

It may have been lost among a devastating knee injury and his remarkable recovery to lead another strong ODI World Cup campaign but Kane Williamson has a chance to achieve a rare feat when he heads out to bat against Bangladesh in Sylhet.

The former New Zealand skipper goes into the Black Caps’ first innings having scored a century in his last three tests on the back of a great run of form at the end of last summer. His last innings in test whites was 215 against Sri Lanka in March at the Basin Reserve as part of a 363-run partnership with Henry Nicholls which helped set up an innings and 58-run victory. That was on the back on 121 not out in the first test against Sri Lanka in Christchurch and 132 against England in February.

For the first time in his career, Williamson could raise his bat for a fourth straight test and would become the first New Zealand man to do so.

Australian legend Don Bradman is the only player in test history to score a century in six straight tests, all against England across 1937 and 1938. Jaques Kallis, Mohammad Yousuf and Gautam Gambhir achieved a century in five straight tests. Williamson would become the 16th man to do it in four straight tests if he reaches three figures in Sylhet.

Williamson currently sits on 28 test hundreds - one more would see him join Virat Kohli and Bradman in 16th on the all-time list. Two more and he would tie with Matthew Hayden, Joe Root and Shivnarine Chanderpaul as 13th all-time.

The 33-year-old has 8124 career runs and sits 32nd on the all-time list (next is England duo Kevin Pietersen 8181 and David Gower 8231),

Williamson could also become the second New Zealander since Andrew Jones to score three successive hundreds. Jones scored 186, 122 and 100* against Sri Lanka in 1991. Everton Weekes is the only man to score five straight tons.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission