On top of his game: Kane Williamson. Credit:Getty Images It was impossible to watch Williamson's total domination of high-quality Australian fast bowling in local conditions and not conclude that we were seeing one of the next super batsmen of international cricket. Martin Crowe and Richard Hadlee have already anointed the 25-year-old as potentially New Zealand's greatest batsman. His 11th Test century, an island of excellence as wickets cascaded to the Australian bowlers at the other end, was no aberration. Since scoring 131 on debut against India at Ahmedabad, Williamson has made hundreds at Lord's, in Sharjah, in Sri Lanka, the West Indies and Bangladesh – and now in Australia. As Washbrook pointed out, and as the Australians showed by applauding Williamson warmly both when he passed his century and when he left the field, runs have a degree-of-difficulty loading. When he was last man out for 140 from 178 balls, five Australian players rushed up to shake his hand or pat his back. This was pure professional admiration.

It was not just how many, but how Williamson scored. The slightly-built Bay of Plenty product had a boyish air at the crease, his armguard, bulging thighpad, helmet and bat all seeming oversized. Waiting for the bowlers he was crouched and angular, his bat pumping eagerly in the air from cocked wrists, finding an imperceptible rhythm with the bowlers' approach and load-up. For all the tight-sprung energy of his top half, what was most noticeable was the stillness of his feet. His toes wiggled in his boots, but Williamson did not move his feet until the ball arrived. Then it was one late movement, forward or back, decisive. No trigger movements, no guesswork, no eccentricities: just textbook cricket shots played as if in front of a mirror. Every seven balls he faced, Williamson hit a boundary, distributed evenly around the ground as if he was handing out merchandise and making sure nobody missed out. Regardless of which Mitchell he faced, or Josh Hazlewood or Nathan Lyon, Williamson's square cutting, driving, hooking and pulling was so precise that no bad ball went unpunished. His batting had no limitations, no habitual hitting zones, no particular strengths, no glaring weaknesses. It always loses the argument to invoke the B-word, but Williamson's batting brought to mind what they said about Bradman: no particular flamboyance or flourish, no muscular power, simply a mechanical ability to hit the ball through the gaps. And what's that, he's a hundred already. The Australian pacemen's lengths to Williamson lost their cluster, though this was more effect than cause. He placed them under pressure and they grew anxious. Only when Johnson came around the wicket did balls pass Williamson's outside edge: something the Australians will pack away until next time. His has become the prize wicket of this series.

But by the time Johnson had found that possible chink, Williamson had already won their personal battle. With three shots in a Johnson over – a square cut, a cover drive and a tuck off the hip – he moved from 90 to 100. It didn't have the soaring power of Burns' six-six progression through the 90s, but Williamson's command in the circumstances was akin to seeing Johnathan Thurston take the man of the match award when his team is losing by 30 points. Fortunately, cricket allows this against-the-grain virtuosity. This innings was a privilege to see, and will be remembered for years, not least for coming at a moment in time when the game needs new stars. The bunched retirements of so many great batsmen since 2012 – Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Kevin Pietersen, Shiv Chanderpaul, Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith, Michael Clarke – have left an international batting vacuum. A new generation is welling up. Twenty-somethings Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, David Warner and Joe Root stand at the brink, but consistently proving themselves away from home against the most hostile attacks is their gold standard. Last year, we saw Kohli produce the best batting by a visitor to Australia in years. In Williamson's 140 at the Gabba, we have seen the arrival, on these shores, of a star who may surpass them all.