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Ross Taylor will become New Zealand’s most capped cricketer of all time this summer.
The Black Caps are back in action this week, after an eight-month hiatus, and Ross Taylor is back on his way to making history.
When the Covid-19 pandemic brought an untimely end last summer, the veteran hitter was five games away from becoming the highest-ranked New Zealander in game history.
Daniel Vettori holds the record as it stands, with 437 appearances in three formats – 112 in trials, 291 in one-day internationals, and 34 in Twenty20 internationals – but Taylor is ready to catch him and overtake him before Christmas.
When brought up with the prospect when the Black Caps met in Auckland ahead of Friday’s inaugural T20 against the West Indies at Eden Park, he jokingly clenched his hamstrings, as if to say, ‘Don’t gape it.’
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At 36 years old, turning 37 in March and with 433 games in his legs (101 tests, 232 ODI and 100 T20), Taylor is much closer to the end of his career than the beginning of it, an ODI against the Indies Westerners at Napier in March 2006.
Thinking back then, Taylor said Tuesday that he never thought he would end up here.
“I was very happy to play a game or two for New Zealand,” he added.
“I have yet to get there first, but my mentor, Martin Crowe, always used to say that records are destined to be broken for the next player who comes along.
NZC
Former Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum puts his cricket clone to the test.
“Whatever number of games I end up in, I hope Kane [Williamson, currently on 291 caps] and whoever comes can overcome it and continue to set the bar higher. “
The fact that Taylor is poised to become the most capped cricketer in the country is a reminder that it won’t be long before he’s not around at all.
Covid-19 meant Taylor was home with his family from mid-March to the end of July when he went to play in the Caribbean Premier League, but while he enjoyed the rare break from the international cricket routine, he said he was happy. to be able to play. to be playing again.
“When you’re a parent, it’s nice to have your kids around, but you usually have a bit of your mind on the game you’re playing in a couple of days.
“Having a complete break from that and not having the excuse that you have a game in a couple of days and being present with my family was something I will never forget, but at the same time, you are just a cricketer for a certain period. of time and I’m not getting any younger, so I have to make the most of every opportunity I can. “
Taylor took time during the break between games for the Black Caps, the team’s longest in nearly 30 years, to think about what’s ahead and still left with the goal of the next one-day World Cup, in India in 2023, for his swan song, even though he knows it will be a challenge.
“2023 was going to be a stretch, I think, in the best case scenario, when it was February and March and now the World Cup has been extended to October and November 23, it’s another six or seven months to go,” he said.
“You have to have short-term and long-term goals and the one-day World Cup is definitely on the radar.
“I may have to cut back on the things that lead to that, like I said, I’m not getting any younger.
“It doesn’t mean I’ll make it, but it’s definitely one of my goals.”
