Kane Williamson played an innings worth its weight in gold, to chase down a tricky target of 189 on a daunting wicket against an in form Sri Lankan bowling attack. Williamson rightly was positioned as the number one test batsman in the ICC Test rankings. 2015 indeed has been an unforgettable year for New Zealand’s run machine.
Speaking after the victory, Williamson said that he was simply delighted to be on the winning side. He stressed more towards countering the short ball with precision. “All the guys like to play the pull, but like any shot, on some surfaces it’s important you try to select the right ball,” Williamson said. “I was a victim of that in the first innings as well, having played the pull shot a lot in previous games and thinking I could go out and do that again. I wanted to make sure I was sounder in my decision making in the second innings,” he said.
“It’s always nice to get a score but it means more when you spend some time in the middle and make a larger contribution to a team performance,” Williamson said. “The wicket wasn’t easy to bat on. It wasn’t the biggest chase but it seemed some distance away because both teams came up with pretty sound bowling plans,” said the Kiwi run machine.
Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews too praised Williamson and said, “His innings was brilliant. It was controlled aggression. I thought he’s up there when it comes to the top-ten batters. He’s been having a great run for New Zealand in the last few years. He was batting well and we just couldn’t get him.”
“He’s surely going to break more records. He’s a tremendous player. At his age he can achieve a lot more than he has achieved right now. He’s really taken up the responsibility and is batting through the innings. That kind of a player is very valuable in the team,” Mathews said.