Taylor breaking new ground on tour of England
The first time Ross Taylor visited England as a Black Cap, he was a fresh-faced batsman, all of 24 years old, with a single test century to his name.
Yesterday, he began to make his way to the home of cricket for the seventh time in his international career, aged 37.
He has been a rock in the Black Caps top order for the past 13 years, and has now scored 19 test centuries, writing himself into the history books as one of the country’s greatest batsmen.
But even in the twilight of his career, he’s still finding ways to break new ground.
‘‘This is the first time I’ve ever taken golf clubs on a trip,’’ he said at Auckland Airport, after checking in his bags ahead of his flight with Singapore Airlines.
‘‘The boys were hassling me because the last time I played golf with them, I was taking the plastic off as I was going around.
‘‘It’ll be something different. You’re never too old to try something new, and it will be nice to get some time on your feet after having been in your room for a while.’’ Golf is set to be the recreation activity of choice for the Black Caps, at least during the first part of their tour, where they will be based at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, which is also home to a Hilton hotel and the Boundary Lakes course. NZ Cricket confirmed yesterday that the Black Caps will operate in what they called a ‘‘controlled team environment’’ while in England to ‘‘limit outside contact and risk of transmission’’ of Covid-19.
The bulk of the New Zealandbased touring party arrived in England yesterday morning, with Taylor and fellow senior players Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, and BJ Watling set to join them a day later.
The group of five who were in India playing or working in the Indian Premier League – captain Kane Williamson, Kyle Jamieson, Mitchell Santner, physio Tommy Simsek and trainer Chris Donaldson – were set to arrive around the same time, from the Maldives, as was Will Young, who has already been in England for several weeks playing county cricket.
Taylor has been nursing a calf strain he suffered during the first of two camps in Lincoln, near Christchurch, earlier this month, but he returned to he nets during the second camp last week and said yesterday it was ‘‘coming along, slowly,’’ ahead of the Black Caps’ two tests against England, at Lord’s, starting on June 2, and Edgbaston, starting on June 10.
The calf injury followed a hamstring injury that briefly sidelined him during the home summer, but he was confident his body would hold up ahead of a run of three tests in three weeks, culminating in the World Test Championship final against India back at the Ageas Bowl, starting on June 18.