Taylor ‘one of the greats’ says Hesson

Ross Taylor deserves to be labelled one of cricket’s batting greats, coach Mike Hesson says.

Taylor and his New Zealand team-mates landed in Wellington for today’s game three with a spring in their collective steps, after a pulsating six-run win over South Africa in Christchurch levelled the one-day international series 1-1, with three to play.

New Zealand’s No 4 raised his 17th ODI century with his man-ofthe-match knock of 102 not out off 110 balls. It moved him one clear of Nathan Astle’s record haul of 16, having also reached 6000 runs in his 166th innings, the fewest of any New Zealand batsman and the 15th fastest of all time, alongside Ricky Ponting and MS Dhoni.

On a world stage he joined a select group of Ponting, Herschelle Gibbs, Sachin Tendulkar, Hashim Amla and Virat Kohli as those to score ODI centuries against every other test-playing nation, as Tay- lor notched his ninth innings Africa.

Asked if Taylor got due recognition for his batting feats, Hesson said: ’’He’s always talked about as one of the greats. His record suggests he should be seen in that light.’’

Taylor had made clear his displeasure at being unwanted for the one-off Twenty20 international against South Africa, which followed his benching in the three T20s against Bangladesh. Hesson first ton against in his South played a straight bat to a question about whether Taylor had a point to prove, after missing out on the shortest format where the Black Caps don’t have another scheduled international till December, when they took the chance to blood younger batsmen like Tom Bruce.

‘‘Ross is one of the very first picked in one-day cricket. Yesterday was another example of how good he is in one-day cricket. The next 12 months we’ve got loads of one-day cricket and that’s pretty much our priority,’’ Hesson said.