Missed phone call first step

Two hundred one-day international appearances is food for thought for Ross Taylor.

Taylor revealed a day before his milestone match for New Zealand against Pakistan in Hamilton on Tuesday that he didn’t initially get the official word for his debut.

‘‘I actually missed the phone call from Sir Richard Hadlee when I got named in the side,’’ Taylor said.

‘‘I was at a UB40 concert and the old Nokia 3310 didn’t quite work.’’

That match was at Napier on March 1, 2006. Since then, Taylor has scored 6903 ODI runs for New Zealand, with 17 centuries, at an average of 45.11 runs. That puts him third on NZ’s all-time list of runscorers, behind only Stephen Fleming (8007 at 32.41) and Nathan Astle (7090 at 34.92).

As a debutant though, he admitted he ‘‘was pretty nervous’’ as he made 15 before being run out with NZ batting first in an easy win against the West Indies.

‘‘I can remember my first run, my first four, and I still have him on about it today; Scott Styris ran me out in my first game,’’ Taylor said.

‘‘He said it was my fault, but as these little kids told Scott when he walked off after getting out not long after me that you never run the home boy out on his home turf.’’

His best knock during those 12 years of 50-overs-per-side international matches?

‘‘My hundred against Australia at Eden Park, my second ODI hundred, was probably my favourite – the context of the match, packed house, batting second to win the Chappell Hadlee.’’

Taylor said to play 200 ODI games ‘‘you’ve got to pinch yourself’’.

‘‘Hopefully there’s a few more in the tank, not just 200.

‘‘The family are coming up from Masterton, so it must mean a