Taylor not slowing with age

Ross Taylor’s Black Cap teammates joke that he’s 38, but the team’s veteran leader is having the last laugh.

The 33-year-old hit an important unbeaten 47 in a 66-run rain interrupted victory over the West Indies in Christchurch on Tuesday to complete a 3-0 series clean sweep.

It was a crucial innings from Taylor, who consolidated with stand-in skipper Tom Latham after New Zealand had been 26-3 before the rain delay.

Taylor’s knock capped off a stellar 2017 calendar year, where he scored 968 ODI runs from 20 innings at 60.50, including two centuries.

His run-scoring efforts at Hagley saw him jump to fifth on the list for the year, a notable achievement that has largely flown under the radar.

Indian run-scoring machine Virat Kohli is top of the tree with

1460 runs at 76.84 from 26 innings. Taylor was more interested in his team’s series victory over the West Indies, but was thrilled with the way he was batting in white ball cricket.

‘‘I’m not getting any younger. I’m only 33, but my team-mates think I’m 38, so it’s nice to prove them wrong,’’ he said.

‘‘There’s a lot of white ball cricket to be played over the next little while. Hopefully, I can stay fit and keep the form up and continue it on for the rest of the season.’’

Taylor will play in the opening

Twenty20 match against the Windies in Nelson on Friday, a format he’s rarely been sighted in over the past two years, but will sit out the final two games.

Following those matches, New Zealand turn their attention to a five-match ODI series against Pakistan, starting at Wellington’s Basin Reserve on January 6. After that, another five-match ODI series looms against England, in what should be a closely fought battle.