Ross Taylor

He made his debut for the New Zealand team in international cricket on 1 March 2006, in a one-day match against the West Indies. He became the second male player of Samoan heritage to play for New Zealand after Murphy Su'a. He scored only 15 runs in the match, which New Zealand won the match by 91 runs.[21]

Taylor is a clean striker of the ball, particularly any ball through leg side, and a useful off-break bowler. Taylor scored his maiden one day century in front of a delighted crowd in Napier, playing against Sri Lanka on 28 December 2006. The innings included 12 fours and 6 sixes. Unluckily for him, New Zealand were comprehensively beaten in that game, by a blistering knock by Sanath Jayasuriya. He also suffered dehydration and required a short hospital trip during the second innings.[22] Taylor hit 84 against Australia in their opening game in the 2006–07 Commonwealth Bank Series, but lost the match at the end.[23] He has also established one of the most potent no.3-no.4 top order partnership with Kane Williamson since the latter made his debut. However, they were also involved in 12 run outs across all forms of international cricket as of 26 January 2015 when they are both at the crease.[24]

Taylor scored his second century in his ODI career on 18 February 2007 against Australia. He scored 117, the 2nd highest score by a New Zealander against Australia at that time.[25] He scored his maiden Test century in March 2008 at Hamilton in the first Test of the 2007–08 series against England and went on to be the leading run scorer for the series.[26]

Taylor scored what was then a Test match career-best of 154* against England at Old Trafford in May 2008, a brilliant innings including 5 sixes and 17 fours.[27] His third Test century, an innings of 151 runs off 204 balls, came against India at Napier in March 2009.[28] His fourth Test century, in the next Test, was a 107 which delayed India's victory long enough to force a draw.[29]

Taylor captained New Zealand for the first time in an ODI against Australia in Napier on 3 March 2010, when Daniel Vettori dropped out of the side less than 30 minutes before the start with a neck ache.[30] Taylor top-scored with 70 and New Zealand won by two wickets with four balls to spare. Taylor was also awarded the Man of the Match and donated the $NZ 500 prize to the Lansdowne Cricket Club in Masterton.

Taylor has served as the national captain for all formats.[31]

He made his then highest ODI score of 131* which came off 124 balls against Pakistan on 8 March 2011 at the ICC Cricket World Cup. His innings included seven (7) sixes and eight (8) fours and contributed to New Zealand making 127 runs in the final 9 overs of the game for their highest total ever against Pakistan (302) in World Cup.[32] With this century, Taylor became only the fourth batsman in history of the game that scored an ODI century in a birthday,[33] after Vinod Kambli, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sanath Jayasuriya.[34][35]

In a match against Australia at Hamilton in March 2010, Taylor made the fastest Test century ever by a New Zealander, bringing up his hundred off only 81 balls.[36] Taylor scored centuries in all three tests in the 2013/14 series against the West Indies. In the first Test, Taylor made his first Test match double-century and highest test score of unbeaten 217 in a composed and classy innings.[37] Taylor's 12th ODI century against Pakistan at Dubai coincides with the 100th century for the Black Caps.[38]

For his performances in the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons, he won the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal.[39]

The best Test innings of his life came during the second test of Trans-Tasman Trophy in 2015–16 season in Australia. He scored his second double hundred and became the highest score by a New Zealand batsman in away Tests and in Australian soil as well. With this feat, he also became the first Kiwi batsman to score a Test double-hundred against Australia and the 2nd fastest among his countrymen to reach 5,000 Test career runs (in 120 innings).[40] During the inning, his partnership with Kane Williamson of 265-run for the third wicket, which was New Zealand's highest of all time against Australia for any wicket.[41] Taylor was dismissed for 290 runs with 43 fours.

In December 2016, after the Test against Pakistan at Hamilton, Taylor underwent surgery to remove a pterygium on his left eye. He was out of action for several weeks, thus missing the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series in Australia.[42]

Taylor scored his 17th ODI century during the second ODI against South Africa at Hagley Oval. With this, he became the highest ODI century maker for New Zealand, beating 16 ODI centuries by Nathan Astle. In this match, Taylor also became New Zealand's quickest batsman to reach 6000 runs in ODI as well.[43] New Zealand finally won the match by 6 runs.[44] Ross Taylor also became only the sixth player in ODI history to score centuries against all test playing nations and first from New Zealand.[45]

Taylor scored a century in first ODI against England in a man of the match performance for his team and became the third New Zealander to score 7000 ODI runs. In the 4th ODI, he probably played the best innings of his career as he made an unbeaten 181 off 147 balls in a successful run chase of 336 runs. His 181* is the 2nd highest ODI score for a no.4 batsman as well 4th highest score for an individual while chasing. In that match, he also passed Nathan Astle to become New Zealand's second top scorer in ODIs. Although, New Zealand lost the series, he was the top run getter with 304 runs in that 5-match series.

On 28 January 2019, Taylor became the third New Zealand batsman to complete 1000 runs in ODIs against India, he achieved this feat when he was batting on 14* and went on to score 93 (106).[46]

In April 2019, he was named in New Zealand's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.[47][48] On 5 June 2019, in New Zealand's match against Bangladesh, Taylor played in his 400th international match for New Zealand in which he scored a match-winning 82.[49] He also became the 2nd batsman to score 8000 ODI runs for New Zealand, after Stephen Fleming, as well as outscoring him in the same match to become New Zealand's top scorer in ODIs.[50] He followed it with 48 off 52 against Afghanistan in another successful run-chase.[51]

In the game against West Indies, he provided stability scoring 69 after his team had lost both of the openers in the first over itself. He scored runs of 30 and 28 in losses against Australia and England, respectively. In the tournament's first semi-final, he top scored for New Zealand with 74 runs as they reached the World Cup final for second consecutive time. He could only make 15 runs, before being wrongly given LBW off Mark Wood's bowling, in the final as New Zealand lost it on boundary count.[52]

During India's tour of New Zealand he scored 2 half-centuries in T20I series, in the 1st T20I he scored 54 off 27[53] and in 5th T20I he scored 53 off 47.[54] During the same tour he also scored a century and half-century in the Odi series, in the 1st ODI he scored 109* off 84 and awarded Man of the Match[55] and in 2nd ODI he scored 73* off 74[56] for his performance he was awarded Man of the Series.[57]

On 21 February 2020, Taylor became the first player ever to play 100 matches in each format of the game T20I, ODI and Tests during the first Test match against India, and became the fourth New Zealand player to play 100 Test matches after Stephen Fleming, Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum and 66th overall.[58]

In his 100th Test Taylor scored 44 off 71 in first innings and didn't bat in second innings,[59] which New Zealand won by 10 Wickets which marked 100 Test victories for them.[60]

As of June 2020, Taylor has played 433 International matches (101 Tests, 232 ODIs, 100 T20Is) and has scored 17,717 International runs (7,239 runs in Tests, 8,569 runs in ODIs, 1,909 in T20Is).[61] He is currently ranked 15 in Tests, 4 in ODIs, and 42 in T20Is.[61]