Kane Williamson leaps at number 2 in ICC Test batting rankings

The New Zealand skipper, Kane Williamson, scored a spectacular 251 in the first Test against West Indies. With this, the veteran climbs two places to No. 2 in the ICC Test batting rankings.

The top-order batsman earned 74 points for his double century against the Windies. He has moved from 812 to 886 points. The Australian run machine Steve Smith continues to seize the top spot with 911 points.

Besides Kane Williamson, Tom Latham was also outstanding in the Hamilton Test. The left-handed batsman has also been rewarded. With 733 points, Latham has traded up two places to join the elite top 10 of the Test batting rankings. The wicketkeeper-batsman scored a brilliant 86 in the first Test against West Indies.

There were quite a few favorable moments for West Indies in the innings, but they lost against the hosts by 134-runs at Hamilton. The Indies talented batsman Jermaine Blackwood scored his second Test century. The innings saw the 29-year-old jump from 17 places to 41st in the ICC Test batting rankings.

Alzarri Joseph surprised everyone with an innings of 86 and jumped 31 places. The pacer is now placed 123 with his career-best points of 219.

The West Indies all-rounder, Jason Holder, has also lost his top spot in the all-rounder's table. He was leading the points table with one point from England's Ben Stokes. Ben Stokes now has a twelve-point advantage. He briefly held the top spot grabbing it from Holder after the second Test with the West Indies.

Kane Williamson scored his third double hundred (251)

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson smashed 251 runs which is now his career-best Test score so far. His previous best test score was 242 not out against Sri Lanka back in 2015. This was his third double-hundreds of his cricketing career.

Williamson's 251 is the ninth occasion of a Kiwi batsman scoring a 250-plus score in Test matches. His score is also the second-highest by a New Zealand batsman against the Windies. Previously, Glenn Turner scored 259 against West Indies in 1979 at Georgetown.

Kane Williamson is currently at number three on the list of highest Test run-getters for New Zealand. He has scored 6727 runs in 81 Tests at an average of 52.55 which includes 22 hundred. The Kiwi captain is only behind Ross Taylor (7276) and Stephen Fleming (7172) who have scored more Test runs for the side.

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