Ross Taylor is one of the most underrated batters in modern cricket. He is a modern-day great. Taylor scored over 7500 runs in Test Cricket, over 8600 runs in ODI cricket, and 1900+ runs in T20Is. The New Zealand squad in the late 2000s and the mid-2010s wasn’t at its peak. The squads had a lot of fringe players. The 11 was never fixed. The New Zealand Cricket Association also didn’t have a well-formed structure. Fighting against all these odds, Ross Taylor was a consistent strong rock, in the middle order. Here is a look at his life:
Ross Taylor Early Career:
Ross is of the Samoan Origin. He has been educated at Wairarapa College and Palmerston North Boys High School. Earlier his focus was on hockey and rugby, two of the primary sports in New Zealand but later it shifted to cricket. Ross burst on the scene when he hit 80 runs off 30 balls in the 2009/2010 HRV Cup final. He made his T20 debut in 2006, his ODI debut in 2006, and his test debut in 2007. Taylor was also picked by RCB at the beginning of his career in 2009 in the IPL.
Ross Taylor Classic Innings and Notable Performances:
Ross Taylor scored his maiden ODI century against Sri Lanka in 2006. His first test hundred came against England in Hamilton. It was an exquisite 120. The strong zone of Ross Taylor is the mid-wicket area. He used to feast on off-spin bowlers. He loved slamming them over mid-wicket. His favorite shorts could be his sweep and his hoick over mid-wicket to the spinners. Other notable performances off Ross include his 154 against England in Manchester, 290 against Australia at the WACA, 217 against West Indies in Otago, and 200 against Bangladesh in Hamilton.
Impact on Modern Cricket:
Ross Taylor is undoubtedly a legend. Modern-day cricket has become more about the top-order batters. The fab 5 includes all top-order batters. We often speak about Kohli, Smith, Babar, Joe Root, and Kane. But the middle-order batters don’t have a revolutionary name. We did have MSD in the middle order but he was in a league of his own. So, if there was any batter who dominated middle-order batting from 2006 to 2019, it was Ross Taylor.
Taylor and his performances often went under the scanner. He was earlier in the shadow of Bazz McCullum and then under the shadow of Kane Williamson.
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To know more go to the official website of the New Zealand Cricket Board.