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Following an extended break from international cricket, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, veteran New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor will resume his progress towards becoming the country's most capped player. The Kiwis will return to action this week with the first T20I of a three-match series at Auckland against the unpredictable West Indies.
With 433 international matches for New Zealand, Ross Taylor is five appearances short of overtaking another former Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori, who appeared in 437 matches for his country.
Speaking about the impending record ahead of the Auckland clash, Ross Taylor said he did not want to jump the gun,
“I've still got to get there first, but my mentor, Martin Crowe, always used to say records are meant to be broken for the next guy to come beat."
The 36-year-old Kiwi legend added that it was all about setting the bar higher for New Zealand cricket, and hoped someone would better him in the future.
“Whatever number of games I end up on, hopefully, Kane (Williamson, he has played 291 games) and whoever comes through can beat that and keep setting the bar higher,” Ross Taylor further said.
Having made his international debut in an ODI against the West Indies way back in March 2006, Taylor has gone on to feature in 101 Tests, 232 ODIs, and 100 T20s. Looking back at the long journey, he reveals that, at that point in time, he was happy to play a couple of matches for New Zealand.
Does Ross Taylor’s harbour ambitions of playing the 2023 World Cup?
Taylor was part of the Kiwi squad that made two consecutive World Cup finals, in 2015 and 2019. New Zealand failed to win either final, including a defeat by the narrowest of margins in 2019. So, does Ross Taylor have another World Cup left in him?
"2023 was going to be a stretch, I think, at the best of times, when it was February and March and now the World Cup has been dragged out to October and November '23, it's another six or seven months to hang around,” the veteran batsman added
“You've got to have short-term goals and long-term goals and the one-day World Cup is definitely on the radar,” he further stated.
Ross Taylor conceded that while he isn’t sure that will make it, playing in the 2023 World Cup in India is definitely one of his goals.
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