New Zealand's Ross Taylor eyeing to reach the milestone of 100 Tests

Ross Taylor to tour with New Zealand to the UAE this month.

Taylor made his Test debut in November 2007 against South Africa | Getty Images

Ace New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor wants to achieve the 100-Test milestone and he is only 15 matches away from the mark and could reach the landmark in January 2020 in Sydney.

The 34-year-old right-hander has played 85 Tests till now since having made debut for the Black Caps in November 2007 against South Africa and scored over 6281 runs in the format.

He has been included in the New Zealand squad for a full tour of the UAE, where they will play Pakistan in three T20Is, three ODIs and three Tests with the tour get underway from October 31.

Taylor told Stuff.co.nz on Sunday (October 21), “I've always said I want to get to the World Cup. Obviously, the Boxing Day Test in Australia is a nice incentive also. I wouldn't mind playing 100 Tests. But that is still a long way away and I've got to get these hammies and calves and rest of the body in some decent shape to hopefully get there.”

Meanwhile, Taylor, who has already played 12 years of international cricket since his debut in 2006, is well aware of the fact that he's closer to the end than to the beginning, but wants to stretch it as much as he can. He added, “Some days you've got to be honest and you think you're close to retiring, and some days you feel like you could still play for two-three years at international level. You're a long time retired and you don't want to make any rash decisions on form or emotion.”

The veteran batsman continued, “Just continue to play like you've still got a bit left in the tank but knowing that most of the countries you go to, it'll probably be the last time you travel there so make the most of it and enjoy the experience and not look too far ahead. I want to play as many games for New Zealand as possible. The day you just play one format, or even two, your level of performance will probably drop a bit.”

The Pakistan series will be the first series under new coach Gary Stead since Mike Hesson resigned as coach and Taylor is looking forward to playing under new “voice”.

He signed off by saying, “It's exciting times having a new voice and my dealings with him already, he's very hands-on compared to Hess. I'm looking forward to working with him. Already he's had a chat to me about batting and he'll work well with (batting coach Craig McMillan). A batting coach overseeing 15 or 16 players can be quite daunting and he'll take a lot of pressure off Macca and bring his own experiences as an international player. I'm sure it'll be good for the team and myself.”

(Input: Stuff.co.nz)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 22 Oct, 2018

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