Ross Taylor retires
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I sincerely hope this is on his terms as he had expressed a desire to make the next CWC - but between COVID, MIQ, the WTC win and the kids growing up it is entirely possible the desire and the eye is waning.
Incredible batsman, underrated captain (he and Coney are the only skippers to win in Australia), dreadful runner between wickets. He deserves a knighthood for how he handled the 2012 captaincy issue (regardless of what side of the fence you were on)
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@higgins said in NZ cricket 2021:
@chris-b Excuse me, I saw Glen Turner and Bruce Taylor both playing live so that in itself does not see them fall into the "or so old no-one has seen them play" category thus they are declared as eligible for selection! Similarly Gren and Jack Alabaster and to a lesser extent Geoff Howarth both also seen play live by myself, the former pair obviously well past his best by then.
I saw Glen playing live as well. Can't remember seeing Bruce Taylor, but I may have.
I was thinking of Stewie Dempster, Jack Cowie and Martin Donnelly!
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@chris-b said in NZ cricket 2021:
@no-quarter One of his greatest contributions (along with several others in this generation) is that when we pick a Best Ever Black Caps XI, we don't have to include a few guys who were pretty ordinary in the international scheme of things (or so old no-one has seen them play).
Was a big shift from his early test career too.
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@godder said in NZ cricket 2021:
@chris-b said in NZ cricket 2021:
@no-quarter One of his greatest contributions (along with several others in this generation) is that when we pick a Best Ever Black Caps XI, we don't have to include a few guys who were pretty ordinary in the international scheme of things (or so old no-one has seen them play).
Was a big shift from his early test career too.
Weird time to be blooded in his first 4 year cycle he had Braces, Moles, Vettori, Greatbatch and Wright as coach, we didn't know if McCullum was a test opener, top order or lower order player and no openers.
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Watching him when he first hit the scene you would think T20 would be his strongest format as a slogger that just relied on talent and a good eye, but he worked insanely hard to curb his natural aggression and became an absolute run machine in the longer formats.
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@no-quarter said in NZ cricket 2021:
Watching him when he first hit the scene you would think T20 would be his strongest format as a slogger that just relied on talent and a good eye, but he worked insanely hard to curb his natural aggression and became an absolute run machine in the longer formats.
It's interesting that, because a similar player coming through the grades currently would probably be even more firmly pegged as a limited overs player. It may be that the modern equivalent has no desire to play test cricket, but the likes of a Finn Allen could well be excellent at third drop if the time was invested in him.
Because we currently have so many good test players, the same energy might not be invested in that sort of player. Are we missing out? Probably not, because we have enough talent already in the test set-up that we aren't really looking for the next cab off the rank. It does seem less likely that we'll find a player like McCullum in the near future though - not until we have a bit more of a dearth of test talent.
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@no-quarter said in Ross Taylor retires:
Watching him when he first hit the scene you would think T20 would be his strongest format as a slogger that just relied on talent and a good eye, but he worked insanely hard to curb his natural aggression and became an absolute run machine in the longer formats.
He said in his press conference that one of his greatest achievements was working to become a test player. Could have been a basher with an average of 30, but worked hard at test batting.
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@delicatessen said in Ross Taylor retires:
@no-quarter said in NZ cricket 2021:
Watching him when he first hit the scene you would think T20 would be his strongest format as a slogger that just relied on talent and a good eye, but he worked insanely hard to curb his natural aggression and became an absolute run machine in the longer formats.
It's interesting that, because a similar player coming through the grades currently would probably be even more firmly pegged as a limited overs player. It may be that the modern equivalent has no desire to play test cricket, but the likes of a Finn Allen could well be excellent at third drop if the time was invested in him.
Because we currently have so many good test players, the same energy might not be invested in that sort of player. Are we missing out? Probably not, because we have enough talent already in the test set-up that we aren't really looking for the next cab off the rank. It does seem less likely that we'll find a player like McCullum in the near future though - not until we have a bit more of a dearth of test talent.
Wtf. This was about McCullum. I'm going back to my drinks.
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I hope he goes out caught at deep midwicket after an inauspicious swipe across the line
Having scored 150
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@mariner4life It's only Bangladesh they are playing so had better make that run out for about 250.
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@higgins said in Ross Taylor retires:
@mariner4life It's only Bangladesh they are playing so had better make that run out for about 250.
Why not go for the triple and better his 290 in Perth!
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@mariner4life said in Ross Taylor retires:
I hope he goes out caught at deep midwicket after an inauspicious swipe across the line
Having scored 150
Nah ... two fitty
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@higgins said in Ross Taylor retires:
@chris-b Excuse me, I saw Glen Turner and Bruce Taylor both playing live so that in itself does not see them fall into the "or so old no-one has seen them play" category thus they are declared as eligible for selection! Similarly Gren and Jack Alabaster and to a lesser extent Geoff Howarth both also seen play live by myself, the former pair obviously well past his best by then.
Good point. Cricketers like Bruce Taylor & Bev Congdon played in an era when NZ cricket was almost 100% amateur, yet more than held their own against professional teams like Oz & England and were genuinely world class.
That said, t think an All Time Black Caps team would be dominated by players of the last 20 years or so like Rosco & Watling. Haven't followed cricket for a few years but for me it really has been a golden decade or so.
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After watching the presser I'm less confident it was completely his decision.
He will play these two tests to bring to an end his test career, then will travel to Australia in a team without the test players for 3 ODIs (and presumably the T20), complete MIQ, then wait a month for three more ODIs against the Netherlands. Hardly the stuff of fairytales.
If given the choice I'm not sure why he would prefer to play with a B-team in overseas and do MIQ than a home test series against South Africa (even in the press conference he said he wanted to play at the Basin again). Seems like a negotiated exit from the Test side IMO, he still will be playing for CD going forward, looking to play county and franchise cricket etc...
The only wild card is he potentially captains that side to Australia? Williamson, Latham and Southee all won't be there - no other obvious choices?
