Cricket: Coaches light up over teen talent

ND coach Grant Bradburn believes Kane Williamson could be New Zealand's answer to Michael Clarke. Photo / Getty Images

The scattered few that spent a bit of time sunning themselves at Eden Park's outer oval last week got a glimpse into the future - and it looked bright enough to require the wearing of shades.

"He's a breath of fresh air," said Auckland co-coach Matt Horne, who saw too much of 19-year-old Kane Williamson as he posted a double of 111 and 95 against his side.

"He has huge potential to be our Michael Clarke in the future," added his coach at Northern Districts, Grant Bradburn.

Don't waste your time looking at Williamson's stats page: it'll tell you little about the Northern Districts' right-hander other than he's had a decent start to his first-class career (714 runs at 42, 13 wickets at 39) without being startling.

What it doesn't tell you are the bits you have to see in person. How completely at ease he looks in that arena; how technically proficient he is; how his game reeks of test-player-in-waiting.

And waiting is an appropriate word according to Horne, who has seen players pushed too hard, too early.

"The best thing we can do for Kane Williamson is to leave him alone for a couple of years to become completely comfortable with his game," he said.

"We have to accept he is still a teenager and while he is very, very talented the tendency in cricket when you're young is to miss more than you hit so he should be allowed to develop a skill base that will allow him to succeed straight away when he plays for New Zealand, which he undoubtedly will."

Bradburn concurs. "He's coming along just fine. He's had a great season with us and I'd like to see him have at least one more of those before he's playing at the top level."

Williamson might not be allowed that luxury. He has admirers in high places - both Andy Moles and Glenn Turner are understood to be enamoured of his talents - and despite his 50 on the rolled mud at Napier, New Zealand look a batsman short when James Franklin is occupying the No 6 position. With Williamson an effective offspinner, there is potential for him to cover two positions - specialist middle-order player and back-up spinner to Daniel Vettori.

And if you can't get excited about a middle order of Taylor-Ryder-Williamson-McCullum then, quite frankly, you're a cadaver.

It's his bowling, too, that Bradburn sees as a potential deal-breaker.

"He's raw in terms of his bowling awareness, which is the opposite of his batting where he knows exactly what he wants and how to go about getting it. At the moment he loves bowling and is having success but he's not really sure why he's succeeding," said the former offspinning allrounder.

"I've been so impressed with his skills with the ball.

"He turns it a lot, has wonderful control, has a simple action and, most importantly, loves bowling and wants to be thrown the ball."

It is his fluent stroke play that immediately catches the eye and although Bradburn's referencing of Michael Clarke is valid for the fact he is also a useful back-up spin bowler, Williamson will soon run into the inevitable comparisons with one Martin David Crowe.

Both stand tall at the crease - though Crowe had a 'bigger' presence - play with a high elbow and punch fours as easily as they work singles. Both, too, have a seemingly intuitive feel for the art of batting that is based on a sound grasp of fundamentals.

"He likes to play the game at his tempo," said Horne, who noted that he could not see anything horribly awry on the technical front.

"He quickly establishes where his boundary options are and then has follow-up options in where he can work singles and turn over strike."

Williamson is possibly impetuous. His attack on legspinner Tarun

Nethula in the second innings of last week's game appeared wild rather than calculated and he was lucky on more than one occasion.

"That's possibly him wanting to make things happen too quickly," said Horne, "but he'll learn that with time and by playing as much as possible in different conditions against different attacks.

"The problem here is that he won't get much exposure to quality, he won't get it in volume."

There is one place he'll get it, and that is in the toughest arena of them all - test cricket.

It's now just a matter of when for Williamson, not if.