*Official* 2024 South Africa tour of New Zealand: 2 tests

[Silver Silva]

He averages 45.4 away, you’re not including the neutral UAE tests or the WTC final.

He hasn't done well enough against the top teams in their backyards to be best after Bradman.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Right so its not away. And the only decent country he averages more than 40 away to, is Australia (5 test minimum). That's not good enough. Sorry. He's an atg surely, but not in the 2nd after the Don.

You seem triggered. 🫂

 

[Slifer]

You seem triggered. 🫂

I'm not...

 

[SteveNZ]

FMD
Kane at 10 centuries since 2020, 2 50s! Absolutely insane conversion rate

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

This is insane - and one of those 50s was not out (WTC final).

Next best is Matthews with 7/6, and Root on 13/15.

 

[SteveNZ]

Williamson is the best batter of his generation imo. Just unreal levels of consistency.

I actually think Joe Root is slightly better than him, possibly because he gets to play more Test cricket/less T20 cricket. But Root has regressed a little bit under Baz (average doesn't suggest so, but he makes lower scores more often - see Pakistan series) so it's probably really, really close.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Percentage of hundreds per innings is an interesting one to look at, Williamson dominating this metric for current players, and for anyone hovering around the 100 test mark. Table hasn’t been updated with his 31st yet, either.

Test Cricket - Highest Percentage of Centuries per Innnings

Test Cricket - Batsmen with highest percentage (%) of 100s per innings played

www.howstat.com

 

[Moss]

Right so its not away. And the only decent country he averages more than 40 away to, is Australia (5 test minimum). That's not good enough. Sorry. He's an atg surely, but not in the 2nd after the Don.

The UAE was a fortress for Pakistan when they played there for a decade. NZ was one of only two sides to beat them, and KW was instrumental in that series win. Agree that the away record has holes and probably not in the 2nd after the Don, but the performances vs Pakistan is an underrated aspect of his record IMO.

 

[NZTailender]

This is true but I also think in some respects he was a better player when he used to look to impose himself on opposition bowlers more, especially when playing against high quality attacks. Try to face 250 balls v Cummins and co and the odds are sooner or later you're going to get a ball with your name on it. Taking a few calculated risks puts pressure back on the opposition and forces them to move away from plan A (I.e. bowl in the channel and hope he feathers one). He possibly feels he doesn't have the same reflexes he had when he was 25 and so needs to take a more risk-minimisation oriented approach, but I can't help but look but at those hundreds at the Gabba and the Waca were he made Johnson et al look like club bowlers and feel that he's lost something.

I actually feel like being captain weighed more heavily on him, even though he averages higher as test captain than not. That said, a boring deep dive into his stats shows the following:

In his 6 years before the captaincy, he averaged 49.23.

Career summary

Grouping	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
v Australia	2011-2016	7	14	1	642	166	49.38	1107	57.99	2	2	1	83	0
v Bangladesh	2013-2013	2	3	0	250	114	83.33	511	48.92	1	2	0	20	1
v England	2013-2015	7	13	1	460	132	38.33	1158	39.72	1	3	1	58	0
v India	2010-2014	7	13	0	496	131	38.15	1132	43.81	2	2	1	46	2
v Pakistan	2011-2014	5	9	0	348	192	38.66	618	56.31	1	1	0	37	1
v South Africa	2012-2013	5	9	1	272	102*	34.00	668	40.71	1	1	1	31	0
v Sri Lanka	2012-2015	6	12	3	827	242*	91.88	1516	54.55	3	4	1	78	1
v West Indies	2012-2014	7	13	1	621	161*	51.75	1443	43.03	2	3	1	74	1
v Zimbabwe	2011-2012	2	3	0	121	68	40.33	240	50.41	0	1	0	14	1

home	2011-2016	19	34	5	1668	242*	57.51	3425	48.70	4	11	1	181	4
away	2010-2015	26	50	2	2108	166	43.91	4563	46.19	8	8	5	232	2
neutral	2014-2014	3	5	0	261	192	52.20	405	64.44	1	0	0	28	1

His record is pretty even across the board. And his first few years in test cricket were his weakest before he really hit his straps, specifically in the 2013/14 season:

season 2010/11		5	9	0	299	131	33.22	698	42.83	1	2	1	28	0
season 2011/12		7	12	1	422	102*	38.36	930	45.37	1	2	2	47	1
season 2012		4	8	0	163	52	20.37	516	31.58	0	1	1	14	0
season 2012/13		7	13	1	419	135	34.91	1026	40.83	1	2	1	52	0
season 2013		2	4	0	82	60	20.50	264	31.06	0	1	0	7	0
season 2013/14		6	10	0	579	114	57.90	1136	50.96	2	4	0	56	4
season 2014		3	6	1	413	161*	82.60	949	43.51	2	1	0	51	0
season 2014/15		5	9	2	657	242*	93.85	1131	58.09	2	2	0	62	1
season 2015		2	4	0	165	132	41.25	354	46.61	1	0	1	19	0
season 2015/16		7	14	2	838	166	69.83	1389	60.33	3	4	0	105	1

If we look at this patch between the 2013/14 season and when he gets the captaincy, his record overall is pretty damn good against everyone faced, home and away:

Career summary

Grouping	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
v Bangladesh	2013-2013	2	3	0	250	114	83.33	511	48.92	1	2	0	20	1
v West Indies	2013-2014	5	9	1	572	161*	71.50	1263	45.28	2	3	0	71	1
v India	2014-2014	2	4	0	170	113	42.50	311	54.66	1	0	0	16	2
v Pakistan	2014-2014	3	5	0	261	192	52.20	405	64.44	1	0	0	28	1
v Sri Lanka	2014-2015	4	8	3	664	242*	132.80	1132	58.65	2	4	0	65	1
v England	2015-2015	2	4	0	165	132	41.25	354	46.61	1	0	1	19	0
v Australia	2015-2016	5	10	1	570	166	63.33	983	57.98	2	2	0	74	0

away	2013-2015	10	19	2	1256	166	73.88	2456	51.14	6	4	1	149	1
home	2013-2016	10	19	3	1135	242*	70.93	2098	54.09	3	7	0	116	4
neutral	2014-2014	3	5	0	261	192	52.20	405	64.44	1	0	0	28	1

Then he gets the captaincy. Overall average improves, but there's a bit of minnow bashing:

Career summary

Grouping	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
v Australia	2019-2019	2	4	0	57	34	14.25	101	56.43	0	0	1	10	0
v Bangladesh	2017-2019	4	5	2	433	200*	144.33	509	85.06	2	2	0	53	1
v England	2018-2022	7	12	1	393	104*	35.72	895	43.91	2	1	1	47	1
v India	2016-2021	6	11	1	375	89	37.50	865	43.35	0	3	0	47	0
v Pakistan	2016-2021	7	13	1	894	238	74.50	1656	53.98	3	3	0	89	2
v South Africa	2016-2017	5	7	1	393	176	65.50	702	55.98	2	1	0	42	4
v Sri Lanka	2018-2019	4	6	0	165	91	27.50	242	68.18	0	1	1	17	0
v West Indies	2017-2020	3	4	0	349	251	87.25	582	59.96	1	1	0	47	2
v Zimbabwe	2016-2016	2	3	1	272	113	136.00	433	62.81	1	2	0	25	0

Average in this time vs Australia plummets, interestingly against Sri Lanka as well. Vastly improves vs Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa (didn't expect that), WIndies and Zimbabwe. Averages vs England and India stay fairly similar but unspectacular. Tellingly, the away average drops dramatically:

home	2016-2021	22	32	3	2120	251	73.10	3512	60.36	9	7	1	246	9
away	2016-2022	14	25	2	724	113	31.47	1467	49.35	1	4	2	83	1
neutral	2018-2021	4	8	2	487	139	81.16	1006	48.40	1	3	0	48	0

His post captaincy sample size is a bit small to make any meaningful judgements - the Australia tour will give an interesting indication of where he's at without the captaincy burden - ditto our tour of India later in the year.

Career summary

Grouping	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
v Bangladesh	2	4	0	139	104	34.75	267	52.05	1	0	0	17	0
v England	2	4	0	142	132	35.50	313	45.36	1	0	1	13	0
v Pakistan	2	3	1	277	200*	138.50	593	46.71	1	0	0	32	1
v South Africa	1	2	0	227	118	113.50	421	53.91	2	0	0	28	1
v Sri Lanka	2	3	1	337	215	168.50	501	67.26	2	0	0	34	3

home	5	9	1	706	215	88.25	1235	57.16	5	0	1	75	4
away	4	7	1	416	200*	69.33	860	48.37	2	0	0	49	1

I honestly expected a bigger deviation in his batting record with the captaincy vs quality opposition, when those around him wouldn't have performed as well with more pressure on him to save the team with the bat. This phase of his career, purely as a batsman, elder statesman and all that experience will be really fascinating for mine. Will be interesting if he sticks around for the 2026 tour to England, to lift that average above 40.

 

[Flem274*]

I don't think anyone is arguing he's 2nd best ever (even the OP who first said it) but he's definitely a very strong player in a very challenging era.

Ofc this nuance will be lost when he makes single digits against Aus and the usual crowd will resurface from their swamps.

 

[NZTailender]

Percentage of hundreds per innings is an interesting one to look at, Williamson dominating this metric for current players, and for anyone hovering around the 100 test mark. Table hasn’t been updated with his 31st yet, either.

Test Cricket - Highest Percentage of Centuries per Innnings

Test Cricket - Batsmen with highest percentage (%) of 100s per innings played

www.howstat.com

I can't see Joe Root on this list, something must be wrong

 

[Howsie]

tbf Williamson could score 4 100’s in 4 innings during that series and it won’t shut his haters up, it’s all about his away record.

He’ll have to wait for his once a decade tour of Australia to do that. And by that point some of that bowling attack will be close to hanging the boots up, so those runs won’t count either

 

[Athlai]

It's unlikely Williamson will tour SA or AU again

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Seeing Williamson limping a little bit again yesterday, it makes me wonder whether (with the injury record he’s building up) if he’d have had to retire if he played in the Crowe era or earlier. Similarly, with the advances in treatment and rehabilitation, would Crowe have been able to play on for longer if he’d played in the current era?

 

[Howsie]

This is true but I also think in some respects he was a better player when he used to look to impose himself on opposition bowlers more, especially when playing against high quality attacks. Try to face 250 balls v Cummins and co and the odds are sooner or later you're going to get a ball with your name on it. Taking a few calculated risks puts pressure back on the opposition and forces them to move away from plan A (I.e. bowl in the channel and hope he feathers one). He possibly feels he doesn't have the same reflexes he had when he was 25 and so needs to take a more risk-minimisation oriented approach, but I can't help but look but at those hundreds at the Gabba and the Waca were he made Johnson et al look like club bowlers and feel that he's lost something.

Nice post. I’ve definitely thought the same. I still tune in to watch him bat but he’s a lot more workmanlike than he was in his mid 20’s.

I honestly believe part of the reason he’s struggled a little bit in England and India is his approach, just too defensive. He’d be better of being more aggressive in both countries

 

[SteveNZ]

It's unlikely Williamson will tour SA or AU again

He might make the 2026 tour to Aus...you'd have to think that would be a big carrot for him. Yes he'll be 36, yes he's had injuries, but surely that's a focus for someone as competitive as him.

 

[Aidan11]

NZ have declared.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Seeing Williamson limping a little bit again yesterday, it makes me wonder whether (with the injury record he’s building up) if he’d have had to retire if he played in the Crowe era or earlier. Similarly, with the advances in treatment and rehabilitation, would Crowe have been able to play on for longer if he’d played in the current era?

I think he’ll be fine and continue to improve, it’s pretty amazing he’s playing at this stage at all. Standard rehab for an ACL is 9-12 months, and he was back in 6. But there will be pain for the next year or so until he’s fully recovered.

And yeah, I’m pretty sure Crowe would have been fine these days.

 

[Chubb]

If it's true they've declared, that lends credence to the idea Southee couldn't be arsed bowling last night. I'm not inclined to believe the worst of the guy but there was really no reason not to have a go at them in the evening.

 

[Aidan11]

Good reflex catch but batter reviewing it.

 

[Athlai]

Not often you get a batsman getting themselves a LBW review