'Didn't think I would play Test cricket again after my first series' - Ross Taylor ahead of his 100th Test

Veteran New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor recently had an ordinary outing in the three-Test away series against Australia. He also failed to drive his side home in the T20I series against India but made up for the disappointments in the ODI series that followed against Virat Kohli’s men. The right-hander led the Black Caps’ chase of 348 in the first match in Hamilton by slamming an unbeaten ton and ended up bagging the Player of the Series award as the hosts decimated India 3-0.

The 35-year-old batsman, who played his 100th T20I against India recently, is now set to appear in his 100th Test match which will see him becoming the first-ever cricketer on the planet to have played a minimum of 100 matches in all three formats. Taylor will own the unique record when New Zealand take the field in the first Test against Kohli’s team in Wellington starting February 21. In ODIs, Taylor has represented his country 231 times.

Ross Taylor had a poor Test debut in 2007 against South Africa

Having made his Test debut in 2007 against South Africa in Johannesburg, Taylor could not do anything extraordinary in that game, scoring just 15 and 4. In the next Test in Centurion, too, the right-hand batsman fell for 17 and 8. On three of those four innings, Taylor chased at wide deliveries to invite his own downfall. The batsman had little hope after the poor start and thought of not making it to the Test XI again.

“I think after my first Test series against South Africa, I didn’t know if I would play Test cricket again. Probably lucky with the timing of things, Twenty20 cricket came along in 2005 and I made my debut in 2006. So it’s probably a timing issue to be able to get there but it’s nice hopefully to be the first player to do it and hopefully with time, there’s going to be a lot more players around the world,” Cricbuzz quoted him as saying.

However, his time came in March the following year as he slammed a hundred (120) in the very first innings he played in the longer format at home. The knock helped New Zealand win the match against England. In the ODIs, too, Taylor’s maiden ton (128 not out against Sri Lanka in Napier) came in his third match and those knocks game him the confidence of belonging to the highest level.

Taylor recently broke the record of former captain Stephen Fleming as the highest scorer in Tests for New Zealand with 7,174 runs. In the ODIs, too, he is the highest scorer for his country with a tally of 8,570 runs. In the T20Is, he is the third-highest scorer in the list.

“I think I have been happy with what I have achieved to date. Test cricket and cricket in general as a batter, you go through a lot of ups and downs and that’s definitely what I have been through, and as a team as well. But Wellington holds a special place in my heart and I am sure having a lot of family and friends there will be something that I will be proud of and look back on at the end of my career with fond memories,” Taylor added.

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