Kane Williamson first NZ batter to score 9000 Test runs; goes past Joe Root & Virat Kohli to reach milestone

Former New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, on Saturday (Nov 30), became the latest entrant in the 9000-run club in Test cricket. The NZ batter reached the milestone during the day of the ongoing first Test against England. He is the first Kiwi batter to reach the figure ahead of now-retired Ross Taylor being a distant second with 7,683 Test runs.

Williamson is the fourth and last to reach the milestone among the Fab Four club which also includes Virat Kohli (India), Steve Smith (Australia), and Joe Root (England).

Williamson reached the mark in his 103rd Test – second fastest to Aussie Smith among Fab Four who had reached the same mark in 99 Tests. Kohli and Root had reached the same milestone in the 116th and 107th Tests, respectively. 

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Williamson is also the joint-third fastest to reach the 9000-run mark in Tests along with Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara and Pakistan's Younis Khan.

The Kiwi is also joint-second on the list of most Test hundreds among active batters. Williamson has 32 Test tons to his name, same as Smith, which is two more than Kohli (30) but three shorter than Root (35).

As for the Test, New Zealand are in a precarious position as they lead only by four runs with four wickets in hand by the end of play on Day 3.

Batting first New Zealand scored 348 in the first innings with Williamson's 93 being the top score. In reply, England score 499 with Harry Brook hitting 171, Ollie Pope scoring 77 and skipper Ben Stokes contributing a crucial 80 down the order.

Come second innings, New Zealand failed to impress again and lost six wickets, three each to Brydon Carse and Chris Woakes, before finishing the day at 155/6.

Williamson again top-scored for New Zealand with 61 – finishing the match with 154 runs in total.