Kane Williamson beats Virat Kohli, Joe Root for stellar Test run-scoring milestone; first NZ player to achieve feat

Kane Williamson became the latest cricketer to cross the 9000 run mark in Test cricket.

Kane Williamson made history by becoming the first batter from New Zealand to breach the 9000-run mark in Test cricket, with a pair of half-centuries in the opening Test match against England at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch helping the Kiwi great inch closer to the vaunted 10,000 run milestone in red ball cricket.

New Zealand's Kane Williamson celebrates his half century (50 runs) during the third day of the first Test cricket match between New Zealand and England at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. (AFP)

Having scored 93 in the first innings, Williamson scored a brisk 61 in the third innings to take him past the mark. He becomes the last and the latest of the ‘Fab Four’ to reach the mark, with Virat Kohli having reached the mark in the series against New Zealand earlier this month.

Williamson is also the joint third-fastest to reach the mark in terms of matches, in 103 games, and has done so faster than Virat Kohli and Joe Root. In terms of innings, Williamson took 182 innings, while Root took 196 and Kohli took 197. Steve Smith was considerably faster than the rest, standing as the only player in Test history to have reached 9000 Test runs in fewer than 100 matches.

Williamson finds success on return

Although Williamson has had a solid Test match in Christchurch, New Zealand find themselves in trouble after a Harry Brook century and strong contributions down the England batting order gave them a sizeable lead. In response, New Zealand found themselves struggling at 23-2 before Williamson stabilised the innings alongside Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell.

Williamson was not part of the New Zealand team as they registered a famous and historic 3-0 series whitewash over India in the recently concluded series in the subcontinent, ruled out due to injury. Nevertheless, the Kiwi batting and bowling alike clicked to ensure India’s first home series defeat since 2012 in an incredibly impressive showing by the visitors.

While Stephen Fleming and Ross Taylors are the other two batters to have 7000+ Test runs for the Black Caps, Williamson became the first to 8000 and now to 9000. He already has a strong CV towards a claim as New Zealand’s finest player in the country’s cricket history, and continues to cement his place atop that list as he consistently adds on the runs.