We are here with one very special best performances article and it is about the first player in history to have played 100 international matches in all 3 formats of the game and someone who has just recently retired and he is a true legend of the game and one of the best that New Zealand has ever seen . We are talking about none other than Ross Taylor. He has had an extraordinary career and now that he has retired we can celebrate him. We will look at his incredible records below.
Ross Taylor has been playing international cricket since 2006 and he ruled for 16 years and he played 112 Test Matches for New Zealand in which he scored 7683 runs at an average of 44.67 . He scored 19 Test hundreds and 3 test double hundreds . He also played 236 ODIs and he made 8607 runs at a very good average of 47.55 with 21 ODI hundreds. It means that he has scored 40 international hundreds for New Zealand. He has also played 102 T20I matches in which he made 1909 runs so a total of 1650/ runs in international cricket. Let’s look at his Top 5 Best Performances.
217* vs West Indies (2013)
This was the first double hundred In the career of Ross Taylor and it came against West Indies in 2013. New Zealand were batting first and Ross Taylor came to bat at number 4 and he started attacking the bowling and settling himself and he played for 319 balls in this innings and he made 217* with the help of 23 fours and he was batting at a strike rate of 68.03. This was an exceptional batting performance from him and he showed that he can play really long innings for his team.
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290 vs Australia (2015)
His second double hundred came against the mighty Aussies and it came in the home of the Australians. New Zealand were replying to Australia and Ross Taylor took it upon himself to be the saviour and he came at number 4 and never allowed the Australian bowling to fund any line and lengths and just went after them and as a result in the 374 balls that he faced in the Innings he hit 43 fours that means a total of 172 runs in boundaries. He was striking at an impressive 77.54 and this innings catapulted Ross Taylor inti one of the best in the world. A truly special knock.
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200 vs Bangladesh (2019)
This is the third Double Hundred in the test career of Ross Taylor and this was an ODI innings in a test match as he was in a hurry to make this 200. New Zealand were batting after bowling pit Bangladesh cheaply and Ross Taylor just went bang bang and he only took 212 balls to make 200 in a test match and he smashed 19 fours and 4 sixes which means a total of 100 runs in boundaries. His strike rate was an astounding 94.34. This was as brutal of a test double hundred as one can see and due to this incredible performance New Zealand won this test match by an innings and 12 runs.
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181* vs England (2018)
There have been very few Innings in ODI cricket that 1 player has won the match on his own especially while chasing a total of 336 in 50 overs but Ross Taylor did exactly that this day vs the best England team while New Zealand were chasing. He absolutely destroyed England in their own game that day and in only 147 balls he hit 181* with the help of 17 fours and 6 sixes which means a total of 104 runs in boundaries. His strike rate was an amazing 123.13 and he won the match for New Zealand. Even at this late stage in his career he was at his best.
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117 vs Australia (2007)
The fifth performance on this list is from early on in his ODI career and this hundred also came in a big run chase against Australia and he was the one who took New Zealand home. Ross Taylor came to bat at number 3 and from ball 1 he got on top of the famed Australian bowling attack and in 127 balls he hit 117 runs with the help of 16 fours and 1 six. His strike rate was 92.13 as New Zealand won this match with more than 1 over to go. We thank Ross Taylor for his service to the sport and wish him a happy retirement.
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