Williamson’s masterful century guides Black Caps to victory over Proteas in Lahore

Jehran Naidoo|Published 3 weeks ago

The Proteas were unable to dislodge New Zealand's Kane Williamson in a timely fashion as the Black Caps beat them on Monday by six wickets in an ODI. Photo: AFP

Proteas: 304/6

Breetzke 150, Mulder 64, Muthusamy 2/50

New Zealand: 308/4

Williamson 133, Conway 97, Henry 2/59

New Zealand won by six wickets

Kane Williamson steered New Zealand to a mostly trouble-free victory over the Proteas in Pakistan on Monday during their tri-nation series encounter, with a destructive, yet composed 133 from 113 deliveries, while Matthew Breetzke made a bit of history.

Earlier, and fresh off a disappointing season with Durban’s Super Giants in the SA20 Season 3, Breetzke was out to prove a point for his country – knocking an incredible 150 runs off 148 balls, which got the Proteas off to a good start. In doing so, he became the first batter on debut in ODI history to record 150 runs, beating the previous high score (148) set by West Indian Desmond Haynes in 1978.

MATTHEW BREETZKE 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦

The first player ever to score 150 runs on their ODI debut 🔥#SummerOfCricket pic.twitter.com/RKaRuAj0fO
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) February 10, 2025

Will O'Rourke removed captain Temba Bavuma from the crease for 20 runs before Jason Smith made his way to the pitch. Smith and Breetzke then put the Proteas in a good position with their partnership before Smith was run out for 41.

Wicket-keeper Kyle Verreynne did not find any luck with the bat, getting out for a single run at the hands of Mitchell Bracewell. Wiaan Mulder then came to the crease and got into the swing of things with his 64 from 60 deliveries, combining nicely with Breetzke.

Together they helped the Proteas set a target of 304 runs but at no point in their innings did the Black Caps look as if they would not reach their score. Williamson and lefty Devon Conway started off a problematic partnership for the Protea’s after Eathan Bosch got the early wicket of Will Young.

Conway reached his 50 first in the 22nd over, while Williamson was close behind as he reached yet another ODI half-century. The duo went on to put up a masterful 187-run partnership for NZ, placing immense pressure on Protea bowlers throughout the innings, who failed to respond quick enough.

Senuran Muthusamy suffered the most as he got smashed in his two overs, going for 23 runs. Wiaan Mulder and Ethan Bosch were economical for the Proteas in their opening overs, but struggled to break up the Williamson-Conway partnership.

Junior Dala finally made the break through for the Proteas and ended the destruction, removing Conway from the crease three runs shy of his century. Muthusamy did have a measure of revenge when he returned with the ball to picked up two quick wickets to put some fight back into the Proteas but Williamson looked immoveable from his position.

The 34-year-old batsman put up 133 not out with a strike-rate of 100 to ensure victory against an inexperienced Proteas side that had a number of debutants in their starting XI.