Top 5 ODI innings of 2019

3. Kane Williamson (106* off 138 vs South Africa, Birmingham)

Kane Williamson took his team to victory in a last-over finish

This innings is special because it wasn’t played on a featherbed; instead, it emerged in a low-scoring match by today’s standards. Chasing a target of 242 is easy these days but not this time, as the South African bowlers produced a good performance and reduced the Kiwis to 137/5.

But Kane Williamson, who oozes class and calmness, kept soldiering on and kept the Proteas from running away with the game. The required run-rate was also not allowed to go out of control, and yet the match still ended up going right down to the wire.

With seven balls remaining, New Zealand needed 12 runs to win the match, and anything was possible. Then on the last ball of the penultimate over, Williamson, by his own admission, tried to guide the ball towards third man for a single to retain the strike. But he ended up playing the ball too fine and it went for a boundary.

With 8 runs needed off the final over, Mitchell Santner took a single to hand over the strike to Williamson. The captain then went down on one knee and smashed the ball over the leg side for six.

The scores were level and the New Zealand captain had reached his hundred. He finished off the game with another four to wrap up a great knock. It was a truly classic innings by the champion batsman.