Sports achievement of the year 2015: Kane Williamson

Kane Williamson. Photo / Getty Images

Today we begin the countdown to naming our Sporting Achievement of the Year. Every day we will be running the finalists, culminating in the supreme winner on Saturday.

Sit down with Kane Williamson and it quickly becomes obvious you're not talking to an average 25-year-old.

There's a calmness about the batsman just entering his prime. As a kid, he loved cricket so much he spent hours learning to be good at it. For him, the process is never-ending.

Neither success nor failure trouble him unduly, as long as he believes he's prepared as well as he possibly can to enjoy more of the former than the latter. And 2015 has been all about the former, from his double of 69 and 242 not out to start the year in style against Sri Lanka, to his just completed conquering red-ball tour of Australia.

The numbers are astonishing - 1032 runs in tests at an average of 103.2, 1317 ODI runs at 57.36, seven international centuries, 20 catches - but they only tell a part of the story.

It was the moments that mattered. The first double-century and the world-record partnership with BJ Watling at the Basin. The six off Pat Cummins to win the World Cup pool match against Australia at Eden Park. The century at Lord's and your name on the honours board.

There was the curious fact he was dismissed five times - five! - in the 90s in ODIs this year. And of course there was his wowing of Australian fans with his cultured calm - there's that word again - centuries at the Gabba and Waca. It's been a hell of a 2015 for Williamson but, you suspect, neither a life- or career-affirming one. It's just what he does.

The consensus is Williamson will eventually retire as New Zealand's greatest batsman, usurping the likes of Martin Crowe and Ross Taylor. Just quietly, he might already be there.