Ross Taylor is on the cusp of making history as New Zealand return to international action, eight months after they last played. The Covid-19 pandemic brought an early end to New Zealand’s home summer – the short white-ball tour of Australia prematurely ended after just the one ODI, while the return series against the Trans-Tasman rivals was chalked off the calendar.
Taylor is just five matches short of becoming the most capped New Zealand cricketer and with a full home season coming up, he should be able to go past Daniel Vettori’s 437 appearances for the national team, across all formats of the game.
While getting past Vettori’s number looks like a foregone conclusion, the right-hander who will turn 37 this March, has already set his eyes on a prospective fifth World Cup appearance. “2023 was going to be a stretch, I think, at the best of times, when it was February and March and now the World Cup has been dragged out to October and November ’23, it’s another six or seven months to hang around,” Taylor said, in an interaction in Auckland, ahead of Friday’s first Twenty20 international against West Indies.
“You’ve got to have short-term goals and long-term goals and the one-day World Cup is definitely on the radar. I might have to trim things back leading into that – as I said, I’m not getting any younger. It doesn’t mean I will make it, but, it’s definitely one of my goals,” Taylor added.
