At a glance

Ross Taylor has given his clearest indication he could prolong his Black Caps career and carry on beyond the next home summer.

Next February’s tantalising home series against India, which includes two tests against the No 1 side in red-ball cricket, loomed as a possible sign-off date for the veteran batsman, who turns 35 on March 8.

But Taylor told Stuff he hadn’t put a timeline on retirement from international cricket. He believed he had ‘‘a couple of years’’ left in him, providing he could avoid injury, was still enjoying himself, and his form warranted selection.

That could see Taylor continue with the Black Caps and feature at the T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November, 2020.

‘‘I definitely don’t have an end date,’’ Taylor said. ‘‘As everyone tells me you’re a long time retired and you’ll know when the best time is to retire. I just take it a couple of months at a time.

‘‘I don’t look too far ahead, but all going well I’ve hopefully got a couple of years left with the New Zealand team.’’

Taylor and his Black Cap teammates have a busy and intriguing schedule over the next 12 months.

He will line up in his fourth World Cup in England in JuneJuly. During the 2019-20 summer, New Zealand host England and India, while also playing Australia away in three tests and three ODIs in December-January, including their first Boxing Day test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 32 years.

Taylor is on track to become just the fourth New Zealand cricketer to bring up 100 tests, joining Daniel Vettori (112), Stephen Fleming (111) and Brendon McCullum (101). Providing he plays every test over the next year, Taylor, who has played 90 tests, will celebrate the milestone in the third test against Australia in Sydney in January.

‘‘At the start of my career one of my goals was to just play test cricket, so to even think about that as a possibility, I would have taken that at the start of my career.

Most ODI runs for New Zealand:

❚ 1. Stephen Fleming: 8007 in 279 matches

❚ 2. Ross Taylor: 7936 in 216 matches ❚ 3. Nathan Astle: 7090 in 223 matches

❚ 4. Martin Guptill: 6293 in 167 matches

❚ 5. Brendon McCullum: 6083 in 260 matches

❚ 6. Kane Williamson: 5489 in 138 matches

‘‘There’s still a few things I’d like to achieve and obviously 100 tests is one of them.’’

Taylor is rapidly closing in on Fleming’s New Zealand ODI record for most runs (8007). He is just 71 runs behind Fleming’s mark, having played 63 fewer matches, and could overtake him against Bangladesh at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval today or in the final match in Dunedin on Wednesday.

To go past Fleming, who was captain when Taylor made his ODI debut against the West Indies in Napier in 2006, would be meaningful.

‘‘You don’t go out there to get records and things like that, but if you play long enough they come.

‘‘It will be a proud moment when it does. It’s a little bit embarrassing taking it off a Kiwi and Canterbury legend. He was one of my first captains I played under and I looked up to as a player.’’

At an age when many of his peers are winding down their careers and showing signs of rust, Taylor is in scorching touch.

In November, 2016, he underwent surgery for pterygium (also known as surfer’s eye) to remove a growth on his left eye. Since the operation, his batting numbers have been as good as anyone in world cricket.

He has scored the third most runs in ODIs since the start of 2017 (2110 at 70.33 with five centuries) with only Indian skipper Virat Kohli (2963 at 87.14) and