The long spells between three figures for Black Caps batters ahead of West Indies series

Monday, 1 December 2025

Kane Williamson spoke on the subject of his long-term Black Caps future ahead of his return for the ODI series against England.

What: First test, Black Caps v West Indies. Where: Hagley Oval, Christchurch. When: 11am Tuesday (day one of five), live on TVNZ Duke and TVNZ+.

ANALYSIS: Should any of the Black Caps manage to hit three figures in this week’s opening test against the West Indies, you wouldn’t be surprised if they forgot all about raising their bat and helmet aloft.

After all, it’s a sight that’s been scarcely seen over recent times for the New Zealand side, who will kick off their new World Test Championship (WTC) campaign at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval on Tuesday with a batting lineup hungry for hundreds.

Chief among them will be captain Tom Latham, no doubt hopeful of winning the toss and bowling first (as has been the case 10 of the last 11 times in the country) before enjoying the best of the batting conditions, as he tries to put an end to a rather dry spell at the crease.

The 33-year-old left-handed opener has the fourth-most centuries (13) for New Zealand, but the last of those came nearly three years back, against Pakistan in Karachi in 2022.

* Black Caps star on the West Indies’ bowling threats and the pitch perils of test series

* Black Caps legend’s test-match tune-up goes awry

It means Latham, who missed the team’s last assignment in Zimbabwe in August (a non-World Test Championship series) due to a shoulder injury, has now gone 37 test innings without a ton.

That streak, which includes eight half centuries (but only two in his past 14 knocks), is comfortably his longest not hoisting the helmet, well beyond the 27 innings he went between December 2019 and January 2022, which was broken with a magnificent 252 against Bangladesh at his Hagley home.

Black Caps captain Tom Latham is in the midst of his longest run without a test hundred.

But the skipper is far from the only one who hasn’t been ticking up the tons of late.

In fact, if you take the Black Caps’ nine top-seven options in their 14-man squad for the first test, their recent records make for grim reading.

Will Young is the only player with a longer drought than Latham’s, having now gone 39 innings without a century since his debut in 2020.

He is one of two options, along with Devon Conway, to open alongside Latham, with coach Rob Walter admitting last weekend he knew in his mind which direction he would go, before Young’s awful early-season form (5, 0, 1, 0, 11, 3 in the ODIs against England and the West Indies) continued with 1 and 7 in Central Districts’ Plunket Shield win over Wellington.

It will likely mean Conway is retained, having missed last summer’s third test against England for the birth of his first child, at a time many were calling for him to be dropped, before then going big in Zimbabwe, with his 153 in the second test ending a run of 31-hundred-less innings.

Kane Williamson celebrates his century against England in Hamilton in December last year.

Kane Williamson, on his casual contract, sat out Zimbabwe, and is coming off a ton in his last test, the Tim Southee farewell against England in Hamilton 12 months ago.

Prior to that, though, the country’s best batter of all-time had gone 13 knocks without three figures, almost an eternity by his standards, with his only longer runs having been 18 innings, from the second test of his career in November 2010 to March 2012, and 14 innings from January-October 2013.

Rachin Ravindra, who blasted 165 not out off just 139 balls in his last test innings, against Zimbabwe, can lay claim to the best recent run, with only 11 innings between that and his last ton (against India in Pune last October).

Daryl Mitchell has been the Black Caps’ best-performed batter so far this season in the white-ball formats, with 119 in his last outing, against the Windies in Christchurch a fortnight ago.

But in the test format it’s now 27 innings ‒ more than three times his longest streak ‒ since his last ton (against Sri Lanka in Christchurch in March 2023), albeit having made eight half centuries, including three 80s, in his last eight hits.

Mitchell Santner’s maiden test ton came six years ago against England in Mt Maunganui.

Wicketkeeper Tom Blundell, age 35, has been retained despite his recent struggles with the willow, where his only hundred in the past 34 months and 32 innings was a hitting-out losing-cause effort against England in Wellington last summer.

Mitchell Santner, meanwhile, has shown superb form with the bat while captaining in the white-ball formats, and with his maiden test century (against England in Mt Maunganui) now six years old, presents as a potentially dangerous proposition at No 7, 21 innings on, while the other spinning all-rounder, Michael Bracewell, is yet to register a test ton, from 15 knocks.

The dearth of hundreds is further illustrated when comparing the Black Caps to their opponents in the last edition of the WTC (2023-2025), where they scored just eight tons (five to Williamson, two to Ravindra, one to Blundell) from their 14 matches, ranking them seventh of the nine countries.

In the cycle before that (2021-2023), they had scored 16 in 13 games, and in the inaugural event they went on to win (2019-2021) they managed nine in 12 outings.

With this three-test series against the West Indies the only action in the whites for the Black Caps in five months, there’s plenty of batters with boots to fill.

And it comes against an opponent they have historically done just that against, with the last three home series against the Windies (2020, 2017, 2013) having seen nine Kiwi tons across 10 innings.

BLACK CAPS’ SEARCH FOR CENTURIES

Tom Latham: 0 in last 37 innings

Last ton: 113 v Pakistan, Karachi, December 2022

Devon Conway: 1 in last 32 innings

Last ton: 153 v Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, August 2025 (last knock)

Will Young: 0 in 39 innings

Still searching for maiden ton, having posted 11 half centuries

Kane Williamson: 1 in last 15 innings

Last ton: 156 v England, Hamilton, December 2024 (last match)

Rachin Ravindra: 1 in last 12 innings

Last ton: 165no v Zimbabwe, Bulawayo (last knock)

Daryl Mitchell: 0 in last 27 innings

Last ton: 102 v Sri Lanka, Christchurch, March 2023

Tom Blundell: 1 in last 32 innings

Last ton: 115 v England, Wellington, December 2024

Mitchell Santner: 0 in last 20 innings

Sole ton: 126 v England, Mt Maunganui, November 2019

Michael Bracewell: 0 in 15 innings

Has one half century to his name

MOST HUNDREDS SCORED IN LAST WTC

England: 20 (22 tests)

India: 18 (19)

Australia: 16 (20)

South Africa: 15 (13)

Sri Lanka: 11 (13)

Pakistan: 11 (14)

New Zealand: 8 (14)

Bangladesh: 4 (12)

West Indies: 2 (13)