The eyes have it
Sitting in a room under the Perth grandstand, 290 to his name in an epic test innings against Australia, Ross Taylor introduced the word pterygium to New Zealand’s cricketing lexicon.
The biggest challenge was spelling it, let alone understanding what it was. Turned out it was a triangular tissue growth on the cornea, also known as surfer’s eye.
A Brisbane optometrist had prescribed Taylor drops to treat it after he was ‘‘all at sea’’ in the first test of that 2015 series, scoring 0 and 26. ‘‘I couldn’t really see the ball so the eyedrops obviously worked,’’ Taylor said, after defying Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood for more than nine hours in the Perth heat.
But the growth on his left eye wasn’t going away. He struggled to see the pink ball in Adelaide, missed out against Sri Lanka at home and, later in 2016, could hardly buy a run in tests in South Africa and India. Unaccustomed to Taylor run droughts since his test debut in South Africa in 2007, people scratched their heads.
It wasn’t crisis point yet, and Taylor still saw the red Kookaburra well enough in Hamilton to score 102 not out against Pakistan, and notch his 16th test century in December 2016. But he’d had enough, and surgery was booked to remove the pesky pterygium.
Remarkably, Taylor said he couldn’t see the ball swing from the bowler’s hand and he used to dread it coming towards him in the field under floodlights when he could barely make it out.
‘‘In hindsight it would have been nice to have the operation two or three years earlier. At the same time, has it made a big difference? It’s hard to tell, you are older and wiser as well which makes a difference,’’ Taylor said, on the eve of his stunning 181 not out against England in Dunedin, which rocketed him to the top of New Zealand’s best ODI innings list.
Since he returned to top-level cricket post-surgery, in January last year, Taylor’s numbers went through the roof. In that 14-month period he’s batted 28 times in ODIs, and scored 1441 runs at 65.50. He scored matchwinning centuries against Australia, South Africa and England (twice), and a crucial
95 to win the series opener against India in Mumbai last November.
In five tests he scored 408 runs at 81.60, including an emotional
17th test century against West Indies in Hamilton in December to put him level with his late friend and mentor Martin Crowe’s mark.
He’s 34 now, Taylor, having celebrated his birthday yesterday. Hardly ancient for a top batsman. Aside from the torn calf that cut short his South Africa test series last year, and the thigh problem that reduced him to a walk before his late onslaught on Wednesday, Taylor’s batted with a spring in his step this past year.
After a lean trot for Sussex in English county cricket, then a return to Hamilton for the birth of his third child, daughter Adelaide last August, Taylor vowed to bring the energy back to his batting, starting with that 95 in India.
‘‘I’m not getting any younger, but I thought ‘I’ve got nothing to lose’, so I went out and lapped my first ball of the series and just set the tone and tried to be busy and go back to the way I used to play,’’ he said.
‘‘When I first came on the scene I wanted to be positive, that’s how I grew up playing. I want to finish that way as well. If [the ball] is moving around, sometimes playing some shots is the best way to get through it.
‘‘The older I get, I just want to enjoy my cricket the next couple of years, hopefully all going well and stay fit and fresh. I haven’t put any expectation on centuries. If you bat well and get yourself in, that will take care of itself.’’
The phrase ‘‘last two years’’ sounded suspiciously like Taylor pulling stumps after the 2019 World Cup in the UK, which runs from May till July. With three young children that might be time. Still, the way he’s batting now, it’s difficult to imagine a Black Caps team without him.
‘‘My goal is to get to the World Cup but I’m not saying that’s the be-all and end-all, or whether things happen before that,’’ he said in December.
"The older I get, I just want to enjoy my cricket the next couple of years."
Ross Taylor