Image Credit- AP
After scoring 118 runs off 289 balls in the first
innings, Kane Williamson upped the ante with an even more impressive 109 off
132 balls, crushing South Africa and extending New Zealand’s lead to a massive
528 by the end of the third day. After gaining a 349-run advantage in the first
innings, New Zealand pursued victory even though they did not want to force the
follow-on. Earlier, South Africa was bowled out for 162.
Unlike in the first innings, Williamson scored faster
and kept the New Zealand innings together even though they were well ahead of
the game when he walked out to bat at 10 for 1. In just three days, he went
from 29 to 31 Test hundreds. However, he was handed another life on 61, just
like in the previous innings, and he took use of it to punish the South African
bowlers. With Steven Smith, he became the second-fastest batter to reach 31
Test hundreds in 170 innings, after only Sachin Tendulkar’s 165.
After reaching fifty off seventy-five balls,
Williamson was able to find the gaps with far more ease and flexibility of
movement than he had when he was at his century on Sunday. Up until that point,
Ruan de Swardt, whom he hit three fours in the over that followed the tea
break, had kept him down quite a bit by the new ball, but not by Tsepho Moreki
or Dane Paterson. Williamson scored most of his runs square of the pitch and
behind it with his signature dabs on the off side and pulls off the shorter balls,
excluding a beautiful straight drive early in his innings, also off de Swardt.
After then, Williamson was unstoppable. In just 25
balls, he made his way from 64 to 100 by backing away for boundaries against
Paterson, including a half-chance at mid-off, and by requiring just four dot
balls during that span while also taking on Neil Brand’s left-arm spin from
over the wicket. With fifteen minutes remaining before stumps, he reached the
hundred when he hit Brand on the off side for a single. In Brand’s following
over, he came around the wicket and took a strong swing for six over wide long-on.
He tried a powerful shot on the leg side again after five balls, but was out
for 109.
Matt Henry took two wickets in an over during the
first session of the day, and Mitchell Santner, who bowled a very disciplined
21 overs for just 34 runs a day after turning 32, followed with a three-for. In
order to reach their final score of 162, South Africa had to make their way
from 80 for 4, thanks to tight bowling from the New Zealand quicks and turn and
drift from the spinners Santner and Ravindra. The major resistance in South
Africa came from Keegan Petersen, with Clyde Fortuin and Duanne Olivier providing
supporting roles. In the first thirty-three balls of the day, South Africa had
managed just three runs, but before a sturdy-looking David Bedingham received a
leading edge off a wild pull which Santner settled under near the pitch.
At a shaky 83 for 6, Petersen and Fortuin got together
and got off to a lot of start. Fortuin displayed solid technique against the
quick bowlers, while Petersen was trapped on 2 for as many as 31 balls. In
addition to surviving a chance when Santner pulled an outside edge that
ricocheted off Blundell’s gloves and fell close to the right boot at first
slip, Fortuin required 17 balls to get off the mark. He struck Santner but gave
a catch to short cover for nine, ending his obstinate 79-minute watch and the 37-wicket
stand.
Olivier continued to frustrate the hosts which made
the spinners strike in consecutive overs at the other end. Santner removed
Moreki’s off stump for his 50th Test wicket while Ravindra snared Paterson in
similar fashion to wrap up the innings.