HAMILTON: Kane Williamson scored his second double century as New Zealand achieved their highest innings total and continued to dominate Bangladesh at the end of the third day of the first Test in Hamilton on Saturday.

The New Zealand captain finished on 200 not out as his side posted a record score of 715 for six declared in their first innings midway through the afternoon session at Seddon Park.

The hosts breached the 700 barrier for the first time on their way to building a 481 run lead and were six wickets away from the win by stumps.

Bangladesh were 174 for four in the second innings, still 307 behind and with their last two recognised batsmen at the crease.

“Obviously that was historic,” batting coach Craig McMillan said after play finished for the day.

“The contributions throughout the innings make it a very special one,” he added, describing Williamson’s unbeaten 200 as ‘sublime’.

Williamson declared the innings when he reached the 200 milestone for the second time in his career.

On an explosive day of batting, with a total of 438 runs scored, Tamim Iqbal gave Bangladesh a flying start to their reply as they raced to 88 without loss.

But once Neil Wagner’s relentless barrage of bouncers captured the wicket of Shadman Iqbal for 37, the visitors soon stood at 126 for four.

Mominul Haque and Mohammad Mithun barely registered and Tamim was caught behind for 76.

The opener ducked under a Tim Southee bouncer but left his bat held high with the ball ricocheting off the periscope and into the gloves of B.J. Watling.

Soumya Sarkar on 39 with Mahmudullah on 15 held the innings together for 13 overs through to stumps.

New Zealand skipper Williamson resumed the day on 93 and calmly worked his way to his 20th century — the most ever by a New Zealander — and passed 6,000 Test runs faster and with a better average than any of his countrymen.

At the other end, Neil Wagner and Colin de Grandhomme pounded the bowling as New Zealand piled on 264 runs from 45 overs and went 25 runs past their previous record of 690 against Pakistan at Sharjah in 2014.

Mehidy Hasan bagged two wickets but bore the brunt of the assault, finishing with his side’s most expensive Test figures ever of two for 246 from 49 overs.

Pre-lunch, Williamson was content to take a backseat as nightwatchman Wagner blazed away for 47 runs — 42 from boundaries — in their 60-run stand.

It was Ebadat Hossain, on debut, who made the breakthrough with his first Test wicket to deny Wagner his maiden fifty when he shaved the edge of the bat, with wicket-keeper Liton Das completing the dismissal.

Big-hitting Colin de Grandhomme took New Zealand past their previous record score of 690 with a huge six, one of five in his whirlwind innings of 76 not out.

The foundations for New Zealand’s domination were laid by openers Tom Latham and Jeet Raval with their 254-run partnership after Bangladesh were rolled in their first innings for 234.

Williamson’s 100 was only the 13th time in cricket history that the first three batsmen had reached three figures.

Scoreboard

BANGLADESH (1st Innings) 234 (Tamim Iqbal 126; N. Wagner 5-47, T.G. Southee 3-76).

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings, overnight 451-4):

J.A. Raval c Khaled b Mahmudullah 132

T.W.M. Latham c Mithun b Soumya 161

K.S. Williamson not out 200

L.R.P.L. Taylor b Soumya 4

H.M. Nicholls b Mehidy 53

N. Wagner c Liton b Ebadat 47

B.J. Watling c Liton b Mehidy 31

C. de Grandhomme not out 76

EXTRAS (LB-7, 2-2, NB-2) 11

TOTAL (for six wkts, 163 overs) 715

FALL OF WKTS: 1-254, 2-333, 3-349, 4-449, 5-509, 6-605.

DID NOT BAT: T.D. Astle, T.G. Southee, T.A. Boult.

BOWLING: Abu Jayed 30-5-103-0; Ebadat Hossain 27-4-107-1 (1nb, 1w); Khaled Ahmed 30-6-149-0 (1nb); Soumya Sarkar 21-1-68-2 (1w); Mehidy Hasan 49-2-246-2; Mahmudullah 1-0-3-1; Mominul Haque 5-0-32-0.

BANGLADESH (2nd Innings):

Tamim Iqbal c Watling b Southee 74

Shadman Islam c Boult b Wagner 37

Mominul Haque c Taylor b Boult 8

M. Mithun c Williamson b Boult 0

Soumya Sarkar not out 39

Mahmudullah not out 15

EXTRAS (W-1) 1

TOTAL (for four wkts, 43 overs) 174

FALL OF WKTS: 1-88, 2-100, 3-110, 4-126.

BOWLING (to-date): Boult 11-1-53-2; Southee 13-2-54-1; de Grandhomme 5-1-15-0; Wagner 12-2-48-1 (1w); Astle 2-1-4-0.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2019