Editorial: Salute to our stars

Kane Williamson has the potential to be one of the greatest cricket players in the country.

We have within our Western Bay sporting community two sportsmen who have the potential to be rated among New Zealand's greatest in their respective fields.

The exciting thing about watching cricketer Kane Williamson and yachtsman Peter Burling is knowing they are just starting to reach their peak. There is at least another delectable decade of their sporting exploits for us all to savour.

The careers of the two 24-year-olds have run side by side ever since they went though Tauranga Boys' College at the same time. In 2008 they were both finalists in the Bay of Plenty Sportsman of the Year Secondary Schools awards, alongside USPGA golf professional Danny Lee, and quickly became world class performers.

Williamson scored a splendid 103 to steer New Zealand to a victory over Sri Lanka in the latest ODI played in Nelson on Tuesday. It lifted his batting average to 44.14 to sit proudly alongside his test average of 45.96. They are world class numbers and in the past 18 months he has been one of the most consistent batsmen in both forms of the game.

Our premier batsman Martin Crowe recently said "we're seeing the dawn of probably our greatest ever batsman" in reference to Williamson. Captaincy of all three New Zealand teams also awaits him in the near future.

But no matter how many superlatives flow about Williamson, his demeanour and outlook never changes. He is the sort of humble, down to earth superstar Kiwis love and cherish.

And so too is Burling. The youngest sailor to compete at the Olympics for New Zealand, he is a multiple world champion and silver medal winner at the London Olympics in the 49er class. He skippered New Zealand to victory in the inaugural Red Bull Youth America's Cup in San Francisco in September 2013. Graduation to the main Team New Zealand crew came quickly and last year he shared the skipper's duties with Dean Barker over the eight-regatta Extreme Sailing series.

This week he beat Barker to win the prestigious Moth World Championship. There is a real prospect Burling will replace Barker at the helm of Team New Zealand in the next America's Cup challenge, which is something to look forward to.

In a society where sporting role models can be hard to find, our young generation have two of the finest in Williamson and Burling. Watching the next stage of their careers will bring hours of pleasure to all sports fans.