Taylor completes stunning New Zealand revival

You know the world has gone mad when poking his tongue out at you from the country's biggest-selling newspaper on a Monday morning is not a celebrity, a politician or even a rugby player, but a cricketer. Not just any cricketer, mind, but Ross Taylor, the part-Samoan being described as the most dynamic young batsman in world cricket after his second ODI hundred of the summer secured the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy for New Zealand for the first time.

If you needed any reminding that cricket is not just a funny old game but stark raving bonkers, think back a week, when the only consideration to putting an image of a cricketer on the front page would have been if they were locked in stocks with a baying public on hand armed with an assortment of ripe fruit and veg. New Zealand's premature ejection from the CB Series was not taken very well. Quite badly, in fact.

The man who bore the brunt was, for a change, not the coach John Bracewell. Instead the captain Stephen Fleming became the target of talkback ire. Despite having made 106 in the final match against England, Fleming led an unsuccessful chase and was castigated for being too slow, selfish and out of touch.

It was a massive and unpredictable fall from grace. His former team-mate Adam Parore used his column in the New Zealand Herald to demand a change of captain and just for a moment it looked as if his long-established empire was teetering. Now, little more than a week later, his position is as secure as it's ever been having beaten the defending world champions back-to-back.

While the result has to be taken with the tiniest pinch of salt given the absence of Ponting, Gilchrist, Lee, Clarke and Symonds, it's the manner of the victories that has reinvigorated the public. In Wellington they blew a weakened Australia off the park, with Fleming and his most reliable [when fit] henchman Shane Bond leading from the front. However, when Australia rattled up 336 at Eden Park - easily the highest ODI score on that curious piece of real estate - it looked like the evil empire had struck back.

But in front of at least 25,000 rapturous fans Taylor and Co not only stole the match with eight balls of breathing space, but also did so in a style that suggests they will go to the grand ball in the Caribbean fearing nobody and scaring some. Fleming is back on form; Bond has re-established himself as one of the most, if not the most dangerous strike bowler in the game; the human pendulum known as Lou Vincent is on the upswing; and, of course, there is Taylor.

It is not being melodramatic to suggest Taylor is the sort of cricketer New Zealand has been waiting for. While rugby has benefited from a healthy infusion of Pacific Island flair, the Polynesian influence on cricket has been inconsequential by comparison. It is hoped that Taylor is at the vanguard of a new breed of player.

His eye-hand co-ordination and incredible hand speed have been on display for close to four seasons at domestic level and there were calls for his inclusion in the national side long before his debut last summer. There was a great deal of consternation, too, when he was left out of the squad for the Champions Trophy last October.

Bracewell will feel comfortable about how he's dealt with Taylor though. He will go to the Caribbean as an obvious danger man, but one only Australia and, to a lesser extent, England can say they know enough about him to plan accordingly.

New Zealand's depth is also pleasing. Bracewell has been on the receiving end of a lot of flak for his so-called "rotation" policy this summer and while it has caused some awful growing pains, he can at least now point to the fact his chosen 15 have all had valuable experience and playing time at the top level. "We're doing nothing differently than we were a couple of weeks ago, and that's what I've been trying to explain over the past month," Fleming said after the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy was wrapped up.

That's where you're wrong, Stephen. You're winning. New Zealanders, like everyone else, love winners. That's what they've been trying to explain to you over the past month. Bring on the World Cup.

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