Taylor may be New Zealand's latest gem

GROUP C: New Zealand (3), England (7), Kenya (11), Canada

AS ONE of cricket's smaller nations, New Zealand has accepted that it will produce a world-class player only occasionally.

When one comes along - players such as Stu Dempster, Bert Sutcliffe, Martin Donnelly, Richard Hadlee or Martin Crowe - the arrival is cause for considerable celebration.

Ross Taylor (below) could be the latest.

He has spiced his first full season in international cricket with two impressive limited-overs centuries and several other innings of quality and significance.

He is an exciting player, a shot-maker, a fast scorer and, at 22, he has the time and the potential to become a player of considerable international stature.

When New Zealand players of greater international experience were failing in Australia this season, Taylor performed with consistency, becoming one of the leading scorers in the tri-nation series.

His innings of 89 and 117 in one-day internationals against Australia suggested a special talent and temperament.

Taylor's greatest asset may be the fact that he is unaffected by his steep rise to international prominence. He is laid back and seems mostly surprised to be competing with the world's best players.

He was richly applauded for his performances in the series in Australia, where he had the third-highest aggregate in round-robin play after Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden.

'I didn't think I played at my absolute best,' Taylor said. 'I learnt so many different things over there and I was probably a little bit disappointed with a couple of dismissals.'

One of his greatest abilities is his free-scoring and knack for generating, sustaining or increasing a run-rate at a crucial point of any innings.

He is a natural boundary hitter but he is also able to bat to a plan.

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