Kane Williamson smashes third century as NZ gain lead over Pakistan

Skipper Kane smashes third century in as many Tests to put New Zealand in command on Day Two against Pakistan

Kane Williamson posted his third century in consecutive matches this summer and shared an unbroken 215-run partnership with Henry Nicholls which steered New Zealand close to a first-innings lead over Pakistan on Day Two of the second Test here on Monday.

Williamson followed his innings of 251 in the first Test against the West Indies and 129 in the first Test against Pakistan with an unbeaten 112 as New Zealand reached 286-3 by stumps in reply to Pakistan's 297.

Nicholls ended the day 89 not out, following his 174 in the second Test against the West Indies and his 56 in the first Test against Pakistan.
Williamson's century was his 24th in Tests.

New Zealand lost three wickets on either side of lunch—Tom Latham (33) and Tom Blundell (16) after a 52-run opening partnership and Ross Taylor (12) early in the second session when it was in trouble at 71-3. Williamson and Nicholls batted slowly, cautiously through the middle session to re-establish the innings, adding only 79 runs and grafting the first 50 runs of their partnership from 105 balls.

The New Zealand run rate dropped to around 2.6 during the session as Pakistan's bowlers kept up an accurate attack. But Williamson accelerated as tea approached, taking a series of boundaries close to the interval and keeping up the tempo into the evening session as the aging ball made the Pakistan attack less threatening. He went from 78 to 94 with four boundaries from the 60th over bowled by Naseem Shah; moved on to 95 with a single, to 99 with a pulled four from Faheem Ashraf and then to his century with a further boundary from Faheem.

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