Taylor eyeing hero Hogan
At a glance
Seddon Park and the West Indies. It’s seemingly a match made in heaven for Ross Taylor, as he looks to join past and present New Zealand batting royalty in the test century stakes.
After going so close to equalling his late mentor Martin Crowe, and current Black Caps captain Kane Williamson, on 17 test tons, with his 93 in the first test in Wellington, Taylor now has a prime opportunity to achieve the feat amid the comforts of home in Hamilton.
And going by his record at the venue, and against the men from the Carribean, the Black Caps’ dependable No 4 may well get the business done during this second test, starting today, which would repeat Williamson’s exploits done at the same venue, in March against South Africa.
Taylor has a test average of 47.46, which bloats to 64.40 against the Windies - featuring three 50s and three hundreds from 19 innings - while he has scored a quarter of his tons at Seddon Park, with four from 18 knocks.
While not aware his record was that much superior in Hamilton, the father-of-three put it down to the fact he could spend time at home and take his mind off the game.
‘‘It is nice just to sleep in your own bed and stay at home on game day, try and do all the normal things - be a dad, make breakfast.
‘‘But you know what you’re going to get here in Hamilton, short boundaries probably play a part as well.’’
With Taylor seeing it well in the first innings of the summer, it could be that those short boundaries get ready for another peppering, as he looks to reach that magical milestone of 17.
‘‘There’s not as many opportunities to do it, so you’ve got to make the most of it,’’ he said, referencing the fact there’s only four tests on this summer’s sched- ule and his years in the game are winding down.
‘‘I know if i go through the right preparation, give myself the best chance and continually do that, that I will be able to get to 17, 18 or whatever. Seventeen is the benchmark that Hogan [Crowe] wanted me to get to and beat. But he said, also, carry on and don’t stop there. Hopefully, in time, Kane will probably end up with about 40.’’
Second-time out, Taylor will expect to face a more probing attack from the West Indians, as they look to bounce back from their innings and 67-run defeat at the Basin.
While the Black Caps have had the luxury of bringing Tim Southee back in from paternity leave at the expense of Matt Henry, the tourists have skipper Jason Holder suspended for a slow overrate, and were leaving it till Friday evening to decide on a replacement, with leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo a chance, but perhaps more likely a call-up for one of the seamers, Raymon Reifer or Alzarri Joseph, on a pitch expected to provide decent pace and bounce.
Despite the heavy first-test defeat, the Windies have continu- ally referenced their bounce-back efforts from England in the winter - where they were thumped in the first test but produced a shock win in the second (before losing the third) - and stand-in captain Kraigg Brathwaite noted there was nothing like first-innings runs to give them a good shot.
‘‘As batters, we could stick to the basics, you don’t have to overcomplicate it, get a big first innings total, obviously that’ll help us going forward in the game a lot better,’’ said the opener who topscored in the second innings at the Basin with 91.’’