AS New Zealand completed a first ever Test match win at Sabina Park it was impossible to deny the obvious.

This side is far more than the mix of grit, determination and limited talent so often associated with New Zealand cricket.

They have been showing high quality against all comers over the last year or so. Now there can be no doubt.

Under the aggressive leadership of captain Brendon McCullum, New Zealand have built a solid squad, rich with exciting young talent.

Kane Williamson, whose beautifully constructed century on the first day laid the groundwork for the visitors’ massive first innings score, turns 24 in August. That first-innings century was his sixth in his 32nd Test.

The left-handed Thomas Latham, who made 83 in that second-wicket stand of 165 with Williamson and followed up with a second innings 73, is 22 years old, playing in only his second Test.

Most intriguing of all perhaps is the free-flowing left-hander James Neesham, whose rapid century gave New Zealand much-needed momentum Monday afternoon. Neesham at 23 was scoring his second century in two Tests having hit an unbeaten 137 against India on debut. Cricket’s record keepers tell us he is the first New Zealander to score centuries in his first two Tests and only the eighth batsman in world cricket to achieve such a feat.

Neesham isn’t just a batsman. His accurate and lively fast medium bowling from a deceptively gentle run-up and delivery stride has earned him 60 wickets in 25 first-class games.

Neesham, by the way, was selected in the all-rounder’s spot ahead of another 23-year-old, Corey Anderson, who blasted a world record 36-ball ODI hundred against the West Indies in New Zealand on New Year’s Day. Conveniently perhaps, for the visiting selectors, Anderson was said to have had a “niggle” at the start of the Test.

Tim Southee, the tall, pinpoint accurate seamer, is already seasoned in this new Zealand team with 31 Tests and 112 wickets under his belt prior to Sunday’s start of the Sabina Test. But he is just 25.

He and the 24-year-old left-arm pacer Trent Boult are fast developing into one of the more lethal new ball pairs in international cricket.

The tall leg-spinner Inderbir Singh ‘Ish’ Sodhi, 21, is still to find his groove in Test cricket but he is a big spinner and gets generous bounce – hence the faith New Zealand’s selectors are showing. Sodhi, by the way, will be best remembered by his peers in the West Indies Under-19 team of a couple seasons ago, for his final-over power hitting which robbed the Caribbean team of what had seemed certain victory at one stage.

At 27, the off-spinner Mark Craig is the oldest of the young brigade on show for New Zealand at Sabina. His first-class figures aren’t worth shouting about but he has had plenty to shout about in his debut Test. He spins the ball and also possesses a very clever arm ball which Kieran Powell and Kirk Edwards discovered to their great cost in the West Indies first innings.

All credit to New Zealand that they have blended such promising young talent with the experience and skill of people like McCullum, Ross Taylor and BJ Watling.

To my eyes this New Zealand team has the makings of world beaters.