Taylor posted an unbeaten 235 on Sunday and combined with Kane Williamson for a 265-run partnership to give New Zealand hope of winning the second Test against Australia at the WACA Ground.

The 31-year-old had entered the match under pressure to perform following a lean two years in the Test arena.

Taylor’s response was emphatic, and his batting coach McMillan said it had been brewing for some time.

“What do they say? Form’s temporary and class is permanent. That got shown today,” McMillan said.

“His concentration in the first two or three overs of the day really set the tone for the way he was going to bat.

“His tempo was superb.

“Some of those straight cover drives were some of the best you’ll see from any player in the world.

“You’d have to rank it right up there as one of New Zealand’s best Test knocks.

“With the conditions, with the match situation, you throw all that into the mix and it’s one of the best.”

Taylor’s knock was the highest ever score by a Kiwi against Australia, and the third highest Test score at the WACA Ground.

With a triple century, and even Brian Lara’s record mark of 400no, up for grabs, Taylor has the chance to achieve even greater feats.

New Zealand will resume at 6-510 on Monday, needing just 50 more runs to surpass Australia’s first-innings total of 9(dec)-559.

Williamson continued his hot form against Australia with a sparkling 166.

The 25-year-old hopes Taylor can add another glut of runs to the team total.

“I know it is a tough ask, but hopefully he can keep going a little bit, build a couple of partnerships because that would certainly help us a lot,” Williamson said.

“But certainly it’s an absolutely fantastic innings so far.

“I thought he was really calm out there.

“He just went about his work in a reasonably aggressive way and that’s when he bats at his best I think.”

– AAP