Kiwi stars wax lyrical about their batting great ahead of India showdown

New Zealand set an indelible target in their ICC Champions Trophy semi-final against South Africa, one that would prove to be too tricky to chase.

Their 362 runs became a new high mark for totals in Champions Trophy matches played in Lahore, moving past Australia’s score (356/5) from earlier in the tournament.

But in doing so, an even greater record was etched into the history books. Kiwi legend Kane Williamson became just the 16th player of all time to reach 19,000 international runs and the first New Zealander to do so.

That milestone came early in an innings that would go on to become his 48th century, across all formats, and his 15th in One-Day Internationals.

Williamson’s career as a run-scorer has been emphatic, reaching the mark of 19,000 international runs fourth-fastest of all time (440 innings), behind only Virat Kohli (399), Sachin Tendulkar (432) and Brian Lara (433).

The 34-year-old proved yet again he’s still at the peak of his powers, scoring 102 runs from 94 balls, highlighted by a mix of perfectly-timed traditional strokes and expansive new age shots that both proved equally as effective.

He came to the crease with the Kiwis at 48/1 in the eighth over and built a win-assisting partnership of 164 runs for the second wicket with Rachin Ravindra, who also made it to three figures, scoring 108 off 101 balls.

Ravindra relished the cool-headed help of Williamson, as the pair looked to take the game away from their opponents.

“It was nice to build a partnership first with Youngy (Will Young) and then Kane,” he said post-game.

“That is what helped me the most, being able to work with the guys in the team. Kane started accelerating so nicely.”

Captain Mitchell Santner, who also spoke after their win, continues to be in awe of Williamson’s feats, both as a batter and a leader.

“(Kane) keeps doing it,” Santner said post-game.

“That partnership (with Ravindra), that was massive for us and it looked like he might’ve been frustrated at times, but he was able to keep going and get through little periods where South Africa challenged us.

“(Ravindra and Williamson) decided to flip the switch a little bit earlier (than expected) and were able to cash in (which proved to be the difference).”

Williamson credited the contribution of Ravindra too, noting the symbiotic nature of their second-wicket stand in the semi-final.

“It's always great to bat with (Ravindra) … incredibly special talent,” Williamson told the media post-game.

“We missed him while he had his little injury for a while there, but (he) just took a couple of weeks off and came back and is batting beautifully. Great to watch.

“He goes out and he puts the team first and he plays with that freedom. When we were out there batting together, there were moments where there were some good spells and it was a little bit challenging. We tried to feed off each other and keep each other focused on the job.”

Celebrations will be short-lived for the Kiwis. They’ll now head back to Dubai, having played India at the same venue of Sunday night’s decider only a matter of days ago.

That group stage finale was New Zealand’s only tournament loss and they’ll look to learn from those lessons.

But Ravindra admitted before looking ahead to the Final, they will take a moment to saviour what’s already been achieved at the Champions Trophy.

“We’ll reflect on today and chill out a bit tonight and then once we get to Dubai, start switching on.”