Lyon looks to disable Kane's century celebration

It was in the afterglow of his most recent success against Kane Williamson that Nathan Lyon cheekily suggested he had identified a potential weak point in the usually inscrutable technique of New Zealand's greatest Test batter.

After Williamson was calamitously run out for a second-ball duck in his team's first innings at Wellington last week, Lyon sent down just 11 balls at the prolific former skipper in the second before having him caught at leg slip from the twelfth.

The last three of those were delivered from around the wicket, with Lyon ripping the ball from the bouncy Basin Reserve surface into the thigh pad of the right-hander who fended off his hip into the waiting hands of Steve Smith, who had moved into the niche fielding position only moments earlier.

The elation Lyon showed on removing the man who – with 32 centuries in his 99 Tests to that point and an average of almost 125 in his previous nine Test innings on NZ soil, stood as the single biggest obstacle to Australia's victory push at Wellington – was immediately obvious.

And the record-breaking off-spinner was at his most mischievous when asked during a subsequent media conference whether the switch in tactics from his bowling position, and the accompanying change in field, were part of a set play.

"That was a plan, and it's nice when plans come off pretty well straight away," Lyon said, almost straight-faced.

"I've noticed something in Kane's batting against my bowling, so I tried to exploit that."

But pressed to reveal some deeper insights into how that blueprint had been formed and the secret he'd unlocked where so many other bowlers around the world had found nothing but endless toil against Williamson's broad bat, Lyon continued in cat-and-mouse mode.

"There's one Test to come mate," he said with a smile, suggesting there was no way the magician was going to reveal his trick until after the final Test of the two-match Qantas Tour starting at Christchurch's Hagley Oval on Friday.

That will also bring a joint celebration for the 100th Test outings of Williamson and the man who replaced him as Black Caps skipper, Tim Southee.

As such, Williamson was granted his turn in front of a microphone – a task he's never been known to relish – prior to NZ's training session at Hagley this afternoon, where he was asked about Lyon's observation.

As someone who employs an even more steadfast defence when fielding questions than when tackling opposition bowlers, against whom he has scored more runs (8675) than any other NZ batter and at a higher average (51.44) than lauded contemporaries Joe Root and Virat Kohli, Williamson was unfazed.

"We spoke about myself and Tim (Southee) that have played a lot of cricket, and Nathan has played a huge amount of cricket," Williamson said today at a media conference to honour his upcoming century.

"An incredible bowler and the surface in Wellington certainly was a competitive surface and brought the spinners into play more than we thought going into it.

"And the quality he has, he certainly made the most of that and was quite a handful.

"As a player, you're always trying to improve, get better, adapt quickly.

"You're playing different opposition day-in, day-out on different surfaces and you're trying to make sure you're preparing as well as you can going into any match.

"(Lyon is) a fantastic operator and had a fantastic game last match."

Williamson shrewdly shouldered arms at the suggestion his 100th Test provided the perfect platform to prove his Australia opponent wrong, and in trademark fashion shifted the focus to those who had supported him throughout a 13-year international career and the team in which he remains a talismanic figure.

Despite battling a series of injuries in recent years, the quietly spoken introvert has found a rich vein of form over the past year in which time he has peeled off seven centuries from 15 visits to the crease.

However, Williamson's remarkable record since making his debut against a star-strewn India team at Ahmedabad in 2010 – where he became just the seventh NZ men's player to reach a century in his maiden innings – carries a notable caveat.

Apart from his dominant effort eight years ago when he posted tons at Brisbane and Perth, he has not found his best form when facing NZ's keenest rivals and has passed 50 only once in his past 13 Test outings against Australia.

The exception came when the teams last squared off at Hagley Oval, where he fell for an epic 97 (off 210 balls faced) in a Test match that is best remembered for his captain Brendon McCullum's blazing farewell century (off 54 deliveries).

Williamson might therefore have been excused for seeking some tips from his former trans-Tasman rival turned IPL teammate David Warner, who revealed earlier in the current tour that the pair regularly exchange text messages.

After all, Warner boasts an extraordinary record in centenary games having earned player of the match honours in each of his 100th internationals in the Test, ODI and T20I arenas.

But in his trademark understatement, Williamson revealed today he had not received many messages at all ahead of his milestone match and knows not to expect any celebratory gifts from Australia bowlers who remain hellbent on maintaining their stranglehold over him.

Given their respective seniority – Lyon is 36, two years older than his NZ opponent – and the fact Australia and NZ are not drawn to play each other in Tests again under the ICC's current Future Tours Program that runs until 2027, it will likely be the former's final chance to prove the theory he aired at Wellington.

But should Williamson turn the tables and threaten to replicate the touch he found on the lush Hagley surface eight years ago, and on NZ's other Test grounds over the past 12 months, Australia's most senior fast bowler has confirmed his team knows precisely what to do.

"Nathan says he's worked something out," Mitchell Starc joked today when asked what Australia had in store for Williamson.

"So maybe we'll just toss him the ball and let him go."

Qantas Tour of New Zealand

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February 29 – March 4: Australia won the first Test by 172 runs

March 8-12: Second Test, Christchurch, 9am AEDT

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc

New Zealand Test squad: Tim Southee (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Kane Williamson, Will Young.