111-year-old record broken by Ross Taylor

Ross Taylor drew praise from all quarters for his mammoth clash

Despite not scoring a century in two years, Ross Taylor etched his name into the record books with his 290 on the fourth day of the second Test against Australia. In the process, the Kiwi batsman broke a 111-year-old record held by an Englishman.

Resuming the day on 235, which was already the record score by a Kiwi batsman against Australia, the 31-year-old went onto break a slew of records before he was eventually dismissed 10 shy of his maiden Test triple-hundred.

Arguably the best of the lot was the record for the highest Test score by a visiting batsman in Australia. The record was previously held by Reginald ‘Tip’ Foster, who scored 287 at Sydney in December 1903.

Taylor’s innings which lasted for 567 minutes, was also the highest score by a New Zealand batsman in an away test, beating the previous record held by Stephen Fleming with his 274* against Sri Lanka at the P Sara Oval in 2003. It was also only the fourth instance where a Kiwi batsman had managed a score of above 250 in away Tests.

The 31-year-old, who came in at No.4 now also holds the record for the highest score by a No.4 batsman in an away test, eclipsing Brian Lara’s 277 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1993. Among all No.4 batsmen, only four (Mahela Jayawardene, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Bob Cowper and Martin Crowe) have scored more than Taylor’s 290.

His innings, which included 43 fours, which is the most hit in a Test innings in Australia and was also the third-highest score by a Kiwi batsman behind Crowe and Brendon McCullum.

"I think it would be one of the best innings that I have seen," Williamson told ESPN Cricinfo. "The tempo that he batted and the length of time that he has been at the crease has been outstanding and moving our teams position forward.

”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. To get that momentum in his innings from pretty much the word go ... there were certainly some tough periods but he was playing so well.”

Kiwi batting coach Craig McMillan was full of praise for Taylor and described it as “an immense innings”, which had been “brewing for some time”.

McMillan told ESPN Cricinfo: “”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.”