Kane Williamson‘s eagerly awaited return to international cricket after an injury lay-off has come with a bang against England in Christchurch. Williamson has become the first player from New Zealand to reach the 9000-run mark in Test cricket.
Williamson achieved the feat on day three of the first Test between the two teams at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. The former New Zealand captain has become the latest member of the “fab four” to scale the milestone.
Most runs for New Zealand in Test cricket
| S. No | Player | Matches | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s |
| 1. | Kane Williamson | 103* | 9001* | 54.88 | 32 | 36 |
| 2. | Ross Taylor | 112 | 7683 | 44.66 | 19 | 35 |
| 3. | Stephen Fleming | 111 | 7172 | 40.06 | 9 | 46 |
| 4. | Brendon McCullum | 101 | 6453 | 38.64 | 12 | 31 |
| 5. | Tom Latham | 86* | 5711 | 38.58 | 13 | 30 |
| 6. | Martin Crowe | 77 | 5444 | 45.36 | 17 | 18 |
| 7. | John Wright | 82 | 5334 | 37.82 | 12 | 23 |
| 8. | Nathan Astle | 81 | 4702 | 37.02 | 11 | 24 |
| 9. | Daniel Vettori | 112 | 4523 | 30.15 | 6 | 23 |
| 10. | BJ Watling | 75 | 3790 | 37.52 | 8 | 19 |
Notably, the three other members of “Fab Four” have already completed 9000 runs in the longest format of the game. Joe Root (12754 runs), Steve Smith (9702 runs) and Virat Kohli (9145 runs) are leading Williamson on the all-time run charts in the red-ball format.
Williamson has now reached within touching distance of Virat and would fancy his chances of surpassing him during the course of the ongoing series against the Three Lions at home. On the other hand, Virat also has his fair share of opportunities to stay ahead of Williamson on the all-time leading run-getters list in Test cricket.
India are due to play four more Test matches in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy and if Virat stays fit, he will have a few more outings to add more runs to his Test cricket resume.
