Batters With 9,000 Test Runs, Full List: Kane Williamson Second Fastest In Fab Four, First New Zealander To Landmark

Williamson’s 26th second innings run in the ongoing Christchurch Test against England took him to the landmark.

He did so in his 182nd innings in Test cricket, making him the eighth quickest to reach the milestone by that particular metric.

Compared to his direct contemporaries, Williamson is the second quickest of the famed Fab Four to reach 9,000 Test runs. Steve Smith was the fastest, reaching it in 174 innings. Only Kumar Sangakkara has ticked off 9,000 runs in fewer innings (172).

Joe Root and Virat Kohli, meanwhile, checked off the milestone in 196 and 197 innings respectively with the former India captain only having done so last month in the Bengaluru Test against New Zealand.

In the overall list, Williamson is nestled in between Sachin Tendulkar and Younis Khan in eighth place.

The former New Zealand skipper, 34, is enjoying an extraordinarily consistent second half of his Test career. Remarkably, Williamson has averaged above 50 in every single calendar year since 2017. In that period, Williamson has averaged more than 62 across 47 Tests.

His overall career record compares increasingly favourably with the other members of the Fab Four. His career Test batting average is approaching the 55-mark, well ahead of Root (50.81) and Kohli (48.13) and just behind Smith (56.40). With Smith well below his best form, it is a very likely prospect that Williamson’s average stands above his rivals sooner rather than later.

Fastest to 9,000 Test runs, full list