'Eating cake in a drinks break!' - how Williamson celebrated his 29th birthday

During the drinks break on day three of a three-day warm-up match against a Sri Lanka Board President's XI, ahead of New Zealand's upcoming Test series, some fans caught Williamson's eye in the crowd. Having heard their chants of 'happy birthday', he approached them, digging into a cake that they had prepared for him.

"Eating cake in a drinks break!" Williamson said after the match.

"I didn’t think it would be too closely followed, but then we had a little crowd in the warm-up game, and they were all chanting 'happy birthday', so I went over and said hello."

Following the day's play, Williamson was in for another tasty treat, as BJ Watling presented him a cake, on behalf of Williamson's teammates, in the changing room. He expressed his gratitude for the kind gestures.

"It was great, thank you. A lot of surprises, and a number of cakes," he said. "It was good fun. With the fairly relaxed nature of a warm-up game, it was good to hang out with a few of the fans that were there and it was nice for them to bring a cake as well."

As for the game itself, the mood was a lot more sombre, with rain dampening spirits and causing much of the encounter to be washed out. Sri Lanka and New Zealand will now turn their attention to the first Test, starting on 14 August in Galle.