Cricket: Ross Taylor innings opens flood of memories

Grant Elliott of New Zealand celebrates hitting the winning runs during the 2015 Cricket World Cup semifinal. Photo / Getty

There's no right or wrong answer, only individual subjective analysis.

It's a cracking water cooler debate. Remember this; what about that; and so on.

If the topic of New Zealand's finest ODI innings had been raised three days ago, I'd wager Kane Williamson's superb unbeaten 112 against England in Wellington last Saturday night might have been a contender.

It was possibly his finest one-day century and earned merit marks on a range of categories.

Ross Taylor knocked that notion into a cocked hat with his heroics at University Oval yesterday.

Time changes thinking. You forget. Your picks get overtaken, partly because you need to get your head around those events of several years ago and try to avoid pushing them aside in favour of the most recent wonder innings', which dominate for their freshness.

So you must cast the mind back for some of New Zealand's gems.

Those who were there will remember Mark Greatbatch's run-a-ball 102 not out to beat England at Leeds 28 years ago, which was a terrific innings and won the match with a ball to spare; or Martin Crowe's epic 100 not out in the World Cup opener against Australia at Eden Park in 1992; or Martin Guptill's staggering 237 not out against the West Indies in the World Cup in 2015.

The Windies were pretty average at that tournament, but even so, weight of runs do have some impact on this.

There are only seven ODI double tons. The one player ahead of Guptill, India's Rohit Sharma, has three of them, which is barely believable.

Stephen Fleming's 134 not out against South Africa in Johannesburg, against a pile of odds, was a classic, performing the dual role of toppling the hosts out of the tournament and keeping New Zealand alive at the 2003 World Cup.

Taylor has now scored 19 ODI tons. They can't all have been bad. Remember 131 not out at Pallekele against Pakistan in the 2012 World Cup in difficult conditions? Didn't think so.

Or how about Guptill's 189 not out against England at Southampton, or his 180 not out at Hamilton last summer?

Taylor's was a monumental effort yesterday, his highest ODI century and, yes, his best.

But if you're trying to work out criteria, and want to be a bit pointy-headed about it, World Cups must trump bi-lateral series.

Fleming sits top on a Herald list of the most significant one-day innings by a New Zealander.

But it's time for a plug for a non-century; an innings which took New Zealand somewhere they'd never been before; which sent a New Zealand crowd into a state of higher delirium than ever before; set off a roar to beat all roars into an Auckland night, which rolled around the ground for minutes as the packed crowd refused to go quietly into the March night three years ago.

Step forward Grant Elliott, 84 not out against South Africa. World Cup semifinal at Eden Park.

Won it with a six into the crowd at wide long with a solitary ball to spare on off the unhittable Dale Steyn. Broke South African hearts. Tears. That'll do me.