Is it too soon to predict that Jesse Ryder will be the New Zealand batsman of the next decade?
There is no doubt whatsoever that he has the ability - a unique ability at the batting crease - which is going to attract far bigger audiences to Test matches here than has been the case in recent seasons.
He has apparently triumphed over his personal problems and, in the most recent Test series against India, he has displayed wonderful maturity plus extraordinary determination.
Ryder's demeanour at the crease is also something to behold. Often smiling, he must be so frustrating to bowl to. He has loads of time to play his shots, the ball belts into the middle of the bat much of the time, he has power and he can accurately probe gaps in the field.
There's no indication that he gets tired after a long spell, and in Napier he appeared to be full of energy even after batting several hours for his wonderful double century. On top of that, the crowds love watching him.
Now after just 14 innings, Jesse Ryder's bat has contributed 768 runs to the Black Caps cause at an average of 64.
Surely there is much more to come from this exciting prospect. It might well be that in years to come, we'll reflect on him as being the batsman who was at the core of our Test team's success over the second decade of the 21st century.
Maybe Ryder will sit comfortably alongside the greats of previous decades; Bert Sutcliffe of the 50s, John Reid of the 60s, Glenn Turner in the 70s, Martin Crowe and Richard Hadlee, Stephen Fleming and Brendon McCullum who looks likely to be the player we most remember from the current decade.
Ryder will face many more testing moments before we can confidently consider putting his name up there among those I've mentioned, but it would be a huge shock if he turned out to be a one-series wonder.
Only a handful of our batsmen, who've played 20 Tests or more, have an average of over 40 in Tests - Fleming, Turner, Crowe, Sutcliffe, Andrew Jones and Mark Richardson. A similar number fall just below 40 - John Wright, Craig McMillan, Nathan Astle, Jacob Oram and Jeremy Coney.
What is also encouraging at the moment is the records of some of the other batsmen. Ross Taylor is climbing the rankings, Daniel Flynn looks comfortable and while our openers have struggled, Guptill has loads of promise. It may well be that while Ryder turns into a world class players, those others might not be far behind.
We could well be looking at one of those rarities in New Zealand cricket - a strong support team around one or two world class players. Maybe we will witness a replay of the 80s where Crowe had wonderful support from Wright, Coney and others.
They also had Hadlee. Now if only a genuine quick bowler would emerge.
AND - what a loss Haidee Tiffen will be to the White Ferns. Three World Cups, 117 one day internationals, she has been an inspirational player and captain. There have not been many New Zealand cricketers born in Timaru - Bruce Taylor and John Ward are two I can think of. Haidee might live in Christchurch, but she has a huge number of fans in Timaru where she was born.
Good luck for the future Haidee.
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Post new commentloge06 said on 2009-04-04 @ 13:03 NZDT: Report abusive post
Back to Ryder, he is a great addition to NZ cricket and good on the NZ selectors for sticking with Ryder, he has already shown he will repay that faith in bucketloads!!! He will help Taylor and Guptill build a strong NZ top order batting line..Now we just have to get rid of consistent failures like Flynn & bring back our superstar bowler Shane Bond!!!
loge06 said on 2009-04-04 @ 13:00 NZDT: Report abusive post
It is a bit too soon but one must agree that he will be the star and personality that NZ cricket has needed since Bond was ridiculously stopped from representing NZ. India's batsmen are all class but how good would it have been to see Bond out there giving it to them? The ICC are useless and indeed are scared of the Indian IPL/ICL bickering by not having enough Guts to stand up for much needed stars like Bond. We need Bond!!!