Black Caps v West Indies cricket – Captain Kane Williamson celebrates high score in trials then shares baby joy on day two

Kane Williamson will sleep well tonight. You should make the most of it.

The big news on the second day was the captain’s glorious 251, but lately there has been bigger news at Williamson’s house.

“This is a very exciting time in anyone’s life and it certainly is in mine,” Williamson said of impending fatherhood. His partner Sarah Raheem was a bystander today and is due to have the couple’s first child in mid to late December.

“Does a due date mean anything?” Williamson asked jokingly. “I do not know.”

That raises the possibility of parental leave, although the 30-year-old said he would cross that bridge closer to time. Right now, he is only thinking about how to remove 20 Antillean windows from an increasingly placid surface.

Williamson ticked off a list of accomplishments during his double ton, but by standard he was thinking more about the big picture than personal applause.

“For me it was about sticking to my plans for long periods of time and then hoping that when you get the good balls you will lose them.

“Even towards the end of my innings I was playing and still missing so there was a little bit there, but the surface was certainly improving a bit.”

Williamson’s remarkable discipline was demonstrated by the fact that he saved the shot until he faced 279 balls, not an easy feat given that it is traditionally one of his most productive ways of scoring.

However, the strong rebound convinced him not to.

Williamson’s entries found a fan in the Barbados bowler Kemar Roach.

“He’s a fantastic player. He’s obviously very disciplined in what he does … he’s a very humble guy and he played well; congratulations, fantastic tackles, one of the best I’ve seen. Take away Kane’s tackles and I think we were on. [with a chance] over all the hitters. “

That feeling is best summed up in this statistic: During the first two sessions of the second day, Williamson scored 139 runs of 180 balls, everyone else scored 72 of 190 balls.

Roach said a focus for the attack will be trying to analyze ways to get the Williamson window. It will not be easy, he acknowledged, but it will be a contest.

“I don’t think we pitched badly, he just played a very high quality test inning. It’s about us now trying to match that, to beat his score in the first inning and come back with the ball in the second inning.

“Going out against the quality bowlers and surviving tonight definitely fills us with a lot of confidence.”

It was a historic day for Roach, who in taking 3-114 surpassed the great Andy Roberts for eighth place on the West Indies land list with 204.

“It’s always good to climb the ladder in whatever you do,” Bajan said. “I’m pretty proud of myself. It’s about putting in more performances, continuing to climb the ladder as high as possible, and surpassing a few more names.

“Follow, follow”.

For now, that will be the message for his hitters as well.