Sussex won’t be in bottom two for long – Taylor
SUSSEX may only have one win to their name this season, but marquee signing Ross Taylor insists that it is only a matter of time before everything clicks in Hove.
The 32-year-old New Zealand batsman snubbed the IPL to fulfil a lifelong ambition to play County Championship cricket.
Taylor, who has 13 Test tons at an average of more than 45, will ply his trade at Hove until the end of July – and he has already been impressed with the younger members of the squad.
But the powerful player believes that when Luke Wright and Chris Jordan return from injury and the IPL respectively, second-bottom Sussex will have an outfit capable of getting their Division Two promotion campaign back on track.
“I’ve been enjoying working with some of the younger guys like Harry Finch, Matt Machan and Craig Cachopa,” he said.
“I’ve got involved but you don’t want to push players too much. You want to pass on knowledge but the younger guys are getting advice from a lot of players and you’ve got to find the balance.
“It’s nice to be able to help out. Harry has played beautifully over the last couple of games, and while I haven’t seen too much of Craig yet, he is a fellow Kiwi.
“Then there are guys like Stu Whittingham and George Garton who have had exciting starts to their careers and bowl with good pace. There is huge potential here.
“And you’ve got the likes of Chris Jordan coming back into the side, and he will add a lot to the balance.
“Both his international and now his IPL experience will come to the fore.
“Having faced him before, he is a lot faster than you might expect, and his control with the ball means he is now known around the world.
“At the World Cup he showed he can deliver under huge pressure, and he’s scored important runs for Sussex in the past too so I’m looking forward to linking up with him.”
Taylor is the first to admit his start to life at Hove has not been as explosive as the patrons may have been hoping for.
But two Championship fifties this month against Leicestershire and Worcestershire have shown he is finding his feet.
And a blistering 93 not out off 48 balls helped Sussex to a staggering 242 in their opening T20 encounter last week – although Taylor was not so impressed with the margin of their one-run victory over Gloucestershire.
He said: “Regardless of the format, our first win of the season should definitely give us some confidence going forward.
“But – and a lot of people around the world have said it already – the Duckworth-Lewis system needs an overhaul in T20 cricket. They needed 160 off 12 overs and we’ve only won by one run; I don’t think many sides in world cricket are chasing that down and it seems like a bit of a farce to me.
“The ball is nipping around more than I’m used to, but I don’t want to make excuses as I haven’t scored as many runs as I’d have liked in the Championship.”
New Zealand are set for two Tests in South Africa in August, and Taylor is adamant he will not be following Brendon McCullum into the international sunset.
The right-hander remains as determined as ever to add to his 69 Test caps, having missed two matches against Australia this year. “The fact that I still want to play Test cricket for at least a couple more years also played its part in the decision to come here,” he added. “With international matches and T20s, there isn’t always that much chance to play first-class cricket.
“Sometimes you can only play one match at the start of the year, and otherwise it’s when you’re on tour, so it’s great to get a longer stint. But I’ve always wanted to come and play county cricket and see what it’s all about. Before the IPL was around, a lot of New Zealand cricketers came over here to get involved and there’s a nice history.
“My daughter, Mackenzie, starts school soon so it won’t always be so easy to pack up and move somewhere for a long period of time.
“So this was a very easy decision at the end of the day and I really want to give plenty back to Sussex.”