Tuesday, Waitangi Day, marked yet another milestone for Kane Williamson, as the star batsman brought up his 31st Test century for the Black Caps, and his second in the ongoing Test against South Africa in Mount Maunganui.
With only three overs remaining in the day, Williamson, on 99, rocked back in his crease and cut Neil Brand away for a single to create history with back to back tons.
Black Caps coach Gary Stead told TVNZ Williamson's innings was another special one on a long list of memorable knocks.
"It's pretty special, he's been an incredible player and keeps churning out the runs, it's just fantastic for the team," he said.
Williamson moved ahead of England's Joe Root, Australia's Matthew Hayden, West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and into 13th spot on the all-time list for the most centuries in Test cricket.
Among current players, only Australia's Steve Smith has scored more (32), but even he hasn't scored them at the rate that Williamson has.
In fact, no one in history has, except for the legendary Sir Don Bradman.
Williamson's 31 hundreds in 170 innings is the best centuries-to-innings ratio of any batsman who has scored at least 20 Test centuries (bar Bradman, who scored an absurd 29 hundreds in just 80 innings).
On average, Williamson has scored a century every 5.48 innings, ahead of the likes of Smith (5.98), Hayden and Kumar Sangakkara (6.13), Jacques Kallis (6.22), and Sachin Tendulkar (6.45).
In terms of New Zealanders, Martin Crowe scored a century every 7.71 innings, while Ross Taylor did so every 10.31 innings.
Williamson's incredible achievement comes off the back of a scorching run of form where he has scored six centuries in his last six Tests dating back to last summer.
Still only 33, he still has time to add plenty more too, and his chances of racing up the all-time ladder are high. Six more centuries will see him surpass Rahul Dravid, who currently has the fifth most all-time. Eight more and he'll pass Sangakkara and be behind just Tendulkar, Kallis and Ricky Ponting.
No matter what happens, Williamson has cemented himself among the all-time greats, and New Zealand cricket fans should savour every chance they get to see him bat while they can.
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