New Zealand captain Kane Williamson once again had a dream return, as his dominating batting performance destroyed the Pakistan bowlers in an important match at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in Bengaluru.
It was a must-win game for both teams as their Semi-final spots were at stake, more especially for Pakistan. Pakistan captain Babar Azam chose to field first after winning the toss.
After New Zealand openers Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra had a 68-run partnership for the first wicket, skipper Kane Williamson joined the in-form opener Ravindra in the 11th over.
Ravindra and Williamson had a giant partnership to set a solid tone for a mammoth first-batting total for the Blackcaps. For the second wicket, they set up a 180-run partnership, which was the second-highest partnership for New Zealand for any wicket in the ODI World Cup history. The record is a 273-run partnership for the unbroken second wicket between Ravindra and Conway against England during the opening match at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
While Ravindra scored his third century in this tournament (108 runs), Williamson was just unlucky to miss out on his deserving comeback hundred as the right-handed batter scored 95 runs in 79 balls with the help of ten fours and two sixes. These batting performances helped New Zealand to score 401/6 in 50 overs.
Most Cricket World Cup runs by New Zealand batters: Kane Williamson broke Stephen Fleming’s record
During that brutal batting performance, Kane Williamson surpassed the former Blackcaps left-handed batter Stephen Fleming (1075 runs) to record the most runs by a New Zealand batter in Cricket World Cup history. Williamson has scored 1084 CWC runs.
In that same innings, Williamson became the third New Zealand batter, after Stephen Fleming and Ross Taylor, to record 1000+ runs in Cricket World Cup history.
Most runs by New Zealand batters in ODI World Cup
Player | Runs |
Kane Williamson | 1084 |
Stephen Fleming | 1075 |
Ross Taylor | 1002 |
Martin Guptill | 995 |
Scott Styris | 909 |
(Updated until November 4, 2023)
Also Read | Most Test Runs For New Zealand
