Ross Taylor - There and thereabouts
The most-capped player in the history of New Zealand cricket may not have been the best in the world, but he was certainly top tier.
Ross Taylor will finish his career with the highest career runs any man has scored in Kiwi colors in both ODIs and Tests. Although the widely adored Kane Williamson is just 400-odd runs away from his test tally and scores nearly 10 more runs per innings. In ODIs, his best friend Martin Guptill scores with a better strike rate and skipper Williamson takes fewer innings per 50+ score.
This is a pattern with Taylor.
Here are ODI batters with more than 2000 runs at #4 since March 2006 (when he made his debut).
Taylor has made the most runs but is just behind the versatile AB de Villiers in terms of average and scores about 15 runs less per 100 balls as compared to both de Villiers and Eoin Morgan.
Similarly in Tests, here are the batters with more than 3500 runs at number 4 since his debut.
Once again, he has the most runs but except for Kevin Pietersen, all batters have a better average and Steve Smith has been significantly ahead for half a dozen years.
Towards the end of 2016, Taylor had eye surgery and it helped him see the ball a lot better. Since then he averaged more than 55 in each calendar year and in 2018 and 2020, he scored 90+ runs per dismissal in ODIs. And yet, you can’t really say he was the best ODI batter in the world.
Unfortunately for him, Virat Kohli was in the midst of making a claim for the greatest ODI batter ever. And then there’s Faf du Plessis and Rohit Sharma. Two top batters from a country with more cricket fans than sheep in New Zealand and a very likable South African.
A dialogue that comes to mind when I think about this situation is this one by the character “Virus” from the Bollywood movie 3 Idiots:
“Who was the first man to step on the moon? Neil Armstrong obviously. We all know that, but who was the second man? Don’t waste your time. It’s not important. Nobody ever remembers the man who came in second.”
Back in late 2011, Ross Taylor was even appointed captain of the New Zealand team. Surely, that was exactly what he needed to stamp his authority over world cricket. Unforunately for Taylor, that didn’t quite work out. New Zealand under Taylor had a W/L ratio (excluding minnows) of 0.45 in ODIs and they even managed to draw test series in Sri Lanka and Australia. But, the problem was his communication style which led to his removal.
In his last test as captain, he top-scored with 142 and 74 and was Player of the Match in Sri Lanka, helped the visitors level the series 1-1. Getting sacked is challenging, but to get sacked after that game must have been even worse. However, Taylor took some time off, re-built his relationship with Brendon McCullum (the new skipper) and Mike Hesson (the coach) and came back strong to become New Zealand’s highest run scorer of all-time.
All in all, Ross Taylor was a solid performer for New Zealand, who could really turn it up on his day, like this one in Dunedin. The most-capped player in the history of New Zealand cricket may not have been the best in the world, but he was certainly top tier.
We'll miss the tongue-out celebrations!