Wellington: Experienced New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor has created history by becoming the first player ever to play 100 matches in all the three formats of the game. He achieved the feat when he took the field against India in the first Test starting Friday at the Basin Reserve.
Test stats of Ross Taylor Taylor, who last month played his 100th T20I in the five- match series against India, has also played 231 ODIs for the Black Caps.
He is already New Zealand's leading run-scorer in Tests and ODIs with 7,174 and 8,570 runs respectively. The 35-year-old has an average of more than 46 with 19 centuries to his name.
- Interestingly, Taylor is only the fourth New Zealand player to play as many as 100 Tests. The other three players with this milestone are Daniel Vettori (112 excluding 1 for World XI), Stephen Fleming (111) and Brendon McCullum (101).
- Also, Taylor has scored 2nd most Test tons for New Zealand behind Kane Williamson’s 21 hundreds. Taylor has 12 of the 19 centuries on New Zealand soil; two more than any other NZ player at home.
In 100 T20Is, the prolific No. 4 has scored 1,909 runs and is behind McCullum and Martin Guptill in the list of highest run-getters for the Kiwis in the shortest format of the game.
File image of Ross Taylor "I think I am still good enough to this team by fine enough to field and still hungry to score runs. I am happy for that," the 35-year-old, who made his debut in 2006, had said before the start of the Test.
Meanwhile, India were asked to bat first after New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bowl. Speaking about his decision, the right-hander said: “We’re gonna have a bowl. It’s still a bit soft. We’ve seen in the past that there is often a green tinge. We need to bowl well upfront. Mitchell is the one to miss out. It’s a bit soft on the top.”
Indian skipper Virat Kohli, at the toss, admitted that he would have made the same choice, considering the nature of Wellington pitch on the first day. “We would have also bowled first. It’s a no-brainer on day one, gonna be overcast all day. That said, the pitch looks better than it was two days ago with a lot of the grass taken off. Still need to bat well.”
