New Zealand have consolidated its position at the top of the ICC World Test Championship points table (ICC WTC Points Table) after beating South Africa in the second Test. Riding on yet another brilliant century from their batting talisman Kane Williamson, the Black Caps beat the Proteas by seven wickets to clean-sweep the two-match series.
Set a target of 267 runs, the hosts made a shaky start to their chase. They lost both of their openers – Devon Conway (17) and Tom Latham (30) – for just 53 runs before Williamson and Rachin Ravindra steadied the ship.
The duo added 64 runs for the second wicket and took their team’s score past the 100-run mark. Dane Piedt broke the stand by dismissing Ravindra for 20 to give his team the much-needed breakthrough. The visitors, however, could not capitalize on the breakthrough as Williamson and Will Young shared an unbeaten stand of 152 runs to take their team home.
Williamson remained unbeaten on 133 while Young scored 60. Earlier in the game, South Africa scored 242 runs in their first innings with Ruan de Swardt (64) scoring a half-century. In reply, New Zealand were bowled out for just 211. For South Africa, Piedt took five wickets for 89 runs. In the second innings, the tourists scored 235 runs with David Bedingham (110) scoring a century.
Updated ICC WTC Points table after NZ vs SA 2nd Test:
Before the start of the second Test, New Zealand were at the top of the ICC WTC points table while South Africa were reeling at the seventh spot. New Zealand now have three wins from four games in the ongoing WTC cycle. They have a total of 36 points and a PCT of 75. On the other hand, South Africa have three losses in four games. They have accumulated 12 points so far and have a PCT of 25.
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Here is the updated ICC WTC points table:
| Position | Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Draw | Points | PCT | Series | No Result |
| 1 | New Zealand | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 75 | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | Australia | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 66 | 55 | 3 | 0 |
| 3 | India | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 38 | 52.77 | 3 | 0 |
| 4 | Bangladesh | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 50 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 22 | 36.66 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | West Indies | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 33.33 | 2 | 0 |
| 7 | England | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 25 | 2 | 0 |
| 8 | South Africa | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 25 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | Sri Lanka | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
