Taylor’s test position under scrutiny for first home test
How well Devon Conway’s broken hand heals could determine whether Ross Taylor’s test career is at an end.
Taylor played the worst innings of a fantastic 15-year vocation with the Black Caps late on day three of the second test against India in Mumbai.
Eight balls consisting almost exclusively of wild swings came to a predictable conclusion as Daryl Mitchell, with 104 fewer tests than his batting partner, applied himself diligently and must have wondered what it was all about.
‘‘There were a couple of dismissals you could look at and think ‘geez, could we have done that a little bit better?’,’’ New Zealand coach Gary Stead said later.
Former Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori also took a reserved approach in his criticism.
‘‘Obviously Ross came out to play pretty aggressively ... he wanted to take control of the game, to push back against the Indian spinners and he obviously had intent to do that,’’ Vettori said on ESPN Cricinfo.
‘‘But it didn’t quite pay off – I think it’s the simple way to put it and probably the nicest way to put it.
‘‘But that’s what happens in these situations when you’re being put under so much pressure, and you try something different – it doesn’t look great when it doesn’t come off.’’
That indiscretion alone isn’t enough to decide the 37-year-old is a spent force at the highest level. Only six months ago, Taylor combined with captain Kane Williamson to guide their side to victory in the World Test Championship final.
But the evidence is mounting that NZ’s most prolific test runscorer’s powers are waning.
In the two tests in India, Taylor scored 20 runs in four innings.
While he openly admitted he was desperately short of match practice heading in to the first test, he didn’t spend enough time in the middle in Kanpur to solve that setback and hence managed just 10 balls in Mumbai.
Since mauling Bangladesh with a double century at the Basin Reserve in March 2019, Taylor’s last 18 tests over the past 28 months have returned only 857 runs at an average of 34.28, with a top score of 86.
It’s not a tumble down a steep cliff, but it’s a slip that is heightened by the likes of Mitchell and Will Young legitimately pushing for places in the first-choice XI.
Williamson’s elbow injury will rule him out of at least the first two tests of the home international summer season, with the first test against Bangladesh starting in Mount Maunganui on New Year’s Day.
That will greatly aid Taylor’s case for continued inclusion, but should Conway be ready to return, the selection scenario gets trickier.
Either Conway or Young could fill the role of Tom Latham’s opening partner, or bat at three in place of Williamson, with Mitchell moving into the middle order. If the selection group have enough faith in Tom Blundell to bat at No 6 at home against Bangladesh, that could see Taylor miss out – with little likelihood he would come back.
Taylor is in touching distance of becoming this country’s mostcapped test cricketer. The second test in Mumbai was his 110th, putting him one behind Daniel Vettori and two behind another ex-captain, Stephen Fleming, who tops the list.
What role then could sentiment play in choosing the side for those two tests? Few could argue that such a loyal and gifted player is worth honouring by giving him a chance against limited opposition on home soil, with a reassessment ahead of the two tests versus South Africa later in the summer.