10 individual cricket peaks in recent times

Kane Williamson (2015)

Williamson in action against New Zealand in an ODI in 2015

New Zealand cricket has, for long, being yearning for consistency in performances. For most part of the previous two decades, they had failed to string together a settled side, with just sporadic individual performances to go by.

Kane Williamson has come in like a breath of fresh air, a batsman in the classic mould, who plays everything with a straight bat. In a lineup of explosive hitters, Williamson is a silent accumulator, having the ability to change gears when the situation arises.

He had a prolific last season, scoring the third most runs in a calendar year (all formats included). That consisted of 1172 runs from eight Test matches, at an average over 90, with five tons and four half centuries. That also includes an unbeaten 242 against Sri Lanka. In ODIs, he scored 1376 runs from 27 matches in the same season, with three 100s and nine 50s.