Australian cricket great Ricky Ponting admits he didn't rate Kane Williamson, after his first encounter with the New Zealand skipper.
Williamson will lead the Blackcaps into enemy territory for a three-match test series against Australia, which includes a Boxing Day test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground - the first for New Zealand since 1987.
The stoic right-hander enters the series on a high, after striking an unbeaten century in the second test against England this week to help his side claim a series win.
Williamson is ranked No.3 in the current test batting rankings, behind only Australian Steve Smith and Indian Virat Kohli. The 29-year-old has 6322 test runs with a New Zealand record 21-test centuries at an average of 52.68.
But after his first trip to Australia in 2011, Ponting's opinion of the then-test novice didn't reflect the player Williamson would become.
Williamson scored 74 runs in four innings, with a highest score of 18.5, in a series where New Zealand achieved a famous win in Hobart.
"Brendon McCullum said to me then, 'This kid is going to be one of the best players in the world'," Ponting told cricket.com.au.
"And I thought 'really?'. He was pretty loose outside off-stump and was going pretty hard at the ball.
"But when you see him now and what he's developed into, he plays the ball later than anybody, he makes big runs, he makes runs consistently and he's been talked about as being one of the best players in the world for the last 4-5 years.
"And he's their captain, so he's a very important player for them."
Ponting even compared the current version of Williamson to arguably Australia's best since Sir Donald Bradman.
The former Australian skipper believes Williamson shows similar traits with Smith. He said once either gets settled at the crease, they are almost impossible to remove, unless they make a mistake.
"He's a bit like Smithy [in test cricket] - he's very regimented in the way he plays, he plays the ball late, he doesn't get a big stride at the ball.
"But he's just really hard to get out, so I'm looking forward to the battle between him and our quicks."
The Blackcaps begin the series against Australia at Perth on Thursday in a day-night test.
