Ross Taylor

For other people named Ross Taylor, see Ross Taylor (disambiguation).

Ross Taylor

Personal information
Full name	Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor
Born	8 March 1984 (1984-03-08) Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand
Nickname	Rosco
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Batting style	Right-hand bat
Bowling style	Right-arm off break
Relations	Wife : Victoria Jayne Brown
International information
National side	New Zealand
Test debut (cap 234)	8 November 2007 v South Africa
Last Test	9 December 2011 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 144)	1 March 2006 v West Indies
Last ODI	29 March 2011 v Sri Lanka
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2002–present	Central Districts
2008–2010	RC Bangalore
2009–2010	Victoria
2010	Durham
2011–present	Rajasthan Royals
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	List A
Matches	33	110	81	155
Runs scored	2,449	3,185	5,501	4,837
Batting average	40.81	37.47	40.74	38.38
100s/50s	6/15	5/20	11/33	9/31
Top score	201*	131*	217	132*
Balls bowled	90	42	660	318
Wickets	2	0	6	3
Bowling average	21.50	–	59.83	81.00
5 wickets in innings	0	0	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	0	0	0
Best bowling	2/4	0/2	2/4	1/13
Catches/stumpings	60/–	78/–	104/–	103/–
Source: Cricket Archive, 30 March 2011

Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor (born 8 March 1984), more commonly known as Ross Taylor, is a New Zealand cricketer and the current captain, preferred ahead of wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum. He has also captained the New Zealand Under-19 side in youth internationals. Taylor has a highest first-class score of 132* in the State Shield domestic one-day competition in 2003–04, and 217 in the State Championship in 2007–08.

International career

He made his debut for the New Zealand team in international cricket on 1 March 2006, in a one-day match against the West Indies. He became the second male player of Samoan heritage to play for New Zealand after Murphy Su'a. Taylor's full name is Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor; however, some sources have inaccurately recorded his name as Ross Luteru Taylor. This is because Taylor grew up answering to both Luteru and Ross when playing cricket, and did not realise he needed to write down his full name for the official New Zealand Cricket records when he was asked to fill in a questionnaire at a first-class match early in his career.

Taylor captained New Zealand for the first time in an ODI against Australia in Napier on 3 March 2010, when Daniel Vettori dropped out of the side less than 30 minutes before the start with a neck ache. Taylor top-scored with 70 and New Zealand won by two wickets with four balls to spare. Taylor was also awarded the Man of the Match and donated the $NZ 500 prize to the Landsdowne Cricket Club in Masterton.

Taylor has been a dominant batsman on the domestic scene for the past couple of seasons. He is a clean striker of the ball, and a useful off-break bowler. Taylor scored his maiden one day century in front of a delighted crowd in Napier, playing against Sri Lanka on 28 December 2006. Unluckily for him, New Zealand were comprehensively beaten in that game, his innings aside. He also suffered dehydration and required a short hospital trip during the second innings. Taylor hit 84 against Australia in their opening game in the 2007 Commonwealth Bank series.

Taylor has also played English cricket for Norwich and Coltishall Wanderers in Norfolk. He was their key player and he was consistent in scoring runs.

Domestic career

In the Indian Premier League he plays for the Rajasthan Royals, his domestic team in New Zealand is the Central Stags, in 2009/10 he played for the Victorian Bushrangers in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash as one of two overseas players (the other being Dwayne Bravo from the West Indies). In the 2009 2009-10 HRV Cup Final against the Auckland Aces, Taylor scored a match-winning 80 off 30 balls, and in a partnership with Kieran Noema-Barnett they scored 133 of 53. Taylor also hit Michael Bates for 27 in one over, including three consecutive sixes. In total Taylor hit eight sixes and five fours for the Stags. In 2010 he played for Durham in the Friends Provident T20 tournament, his most substantial contribution being a brutal 80 not out from only 33 balls including 3 fours and 9 sixes.

Achievements

Taylor's first ODI century came against Sri Lanka on 28 December 2006, scoring 128* off 133 balls. The innings included 12 fours and 6 sixes. Taylor scored his second century in his ODI career on 18 February 2007 against Australia. He scored 117, the 2nd highest score by a New Zealander against Australia.

He made his highest ODI score of 131* which came off 124 balls against Pakistan on 8 March 2011 at the ICC Cricket World Cup. His innings included seven (7) 6's and eight (8) 4's and contributed to New Zealand making 127 runs in the final 9 overs of the game for their highest total ever against Pakistan (302) in ODI cricket. It is from this match that Taylor earned his nickname 'The Pallekele Plunderer' after he blasted a staggering 55 runs from the last 13 deliveries he faced.

He scored his maiden Test century, a patient and restrained 120, in March 2008 at Hamilton in the first Test of the 2007–08 series against England and went on to be the leading run scorer for the series.

Aside from national duties for the New Zealand team, Taylor also plays for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and for his domestic team, the Central Districts Stags. Taylor scored a match winning innings of 81 from just 33 balls for Bangalore against Kolkata to seal an improbable victory for his team in 2009.

Known for his explosive style, combining flair and aggression with proper, elegant strokes, Taylor has been a match-winner in many of the RCB's wins. He has one of the highest strike-rates as an RCB batsman and known to be a 'finisher'. After RCB's win over Delhi Dare Devils at Airtel Champions League Twenty20 2009, captain Anil Kumble said that Taylor was a "murderer" of spinners, referring to his explosive innings of 65. In 38 balls, Taylor had scored six 4s and four 6s, and was declared Man of the Match.

Ross Taylor scored a Test match career-best of 154* against England at Old Trafford in May 2008, a brilliant innings including 5 sixes and 17 fours.

His third Test century, an aggressive and chancy innings of 151 runs off 204 balls, came against India at Napier in March 2009. His fourth Test century, in the next Test, was a serene 107 which delayed India's victory long enough to force a draw.

His fifth century was 138 against Australia at Hamilton, in March 2010, which was also the fastest Test century ever by a New Zealander.

Test centuries

The following table illustrates a summary of the Test centuries scored by Ross Taylor.

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

ODI centuries

The following table illustrates a summary of the ODI centuries scored by Ross Taylor.

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

Personal life

Taylor and New Zealand women's cricketer Victoria Jayne Brown got married on 25 June 2011. Victoria gave birth to a daughter named Mackenzie on 24th September 2011.

References

http://www.espncricinfo.com/newzealand/content/story/520004.html

External links

• Player profile: Ross Taylor from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: Ross Taylor from CricketArchive
• Ross Taylor at New Zealand Cricket Players Association
• RCB Player Profile: Ross Taylor from Royal Challengers Bangalore

Test Centuries of Ross Taylor
	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
1	120	3	England	Hamilton, New Zealand	Seddon Park	2008
2	154*	7	England	Manchester, England	Old Trafford	2008
3	151	16	India	Napier, New Zealand	McLean Park	2009
4	107	17	India	Wellington, New Zealand	Basin Reserve	2009
5	138	24	Australia	Hamilton, New Zealand	Seddon Park	2010
6	122*	34	Zimbabwe	Napier, New Zealand	McLean Park	2012
ODI Centuries of Ross Taylor
	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
1	128*	3	Sri Lanka	Napier, New Zealand	McLean Park	2006
2	117	17	Australia	Auckland, New Zealand	Eden Park	2007
3	103	48	Bangladesh	Chittagong, Bangladesh	Chittagong Divisional Stadium	2008
4	131*	99	Pakistan	Kandy, Srilanka	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium	2011
5	119	110	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo	2011
Current national cricket captains1 Australia Test & ODI Michael Clarke T20I George Bailey Bangladesh Test, ODI & T20I Mushfiqur Rahim England Test Andrew Strauss ODI Alastair Cook T20I Stuart Broad India Test, ODI & T20I MS Dhoni New Zealand Test, ODI & T20I Ross Taylor Pakistan Test & ODI Misbah-ul-Haq T20I vacant South Africa Test Graeme Smith ODI & T20I AB de Villiers Sri Lanka Test, ODI & T20I Mahela Jayawardene West Indies Test, ODI & T20I Darren Sammy Zimbabwe Test, ODI & T20I Brendan Taylor 1only teams with full member status are listed