With the departure of Michael Lumb and Brendan Taylor from the successful 2017 squad, Nottinghamshire were in need of a high-quality recruit for the 2018 season and secured the services of New Zealander Ross Taylor.
A match winner in all three formats for his country, Taylor arrived at Trent Bridge on the back of a blistering 181no against England in an ODI to steer New Zealand to victory.
He was available for the first half of the domestic season – eight County Championship matches and the full One-Day cup campaign, in which Notts were the defending champions. He re-joined his international team-mates at the end of June.
In the Championship, Ross Taylor batted 15 times in his eight games, making 507 runs at an average of 33.73, his top score 146 against Essex; he made four other scores over fifty and reinforced his reputation as a reliable fielder with 13 catches. In List-A cricket, he scored 235 runs in eight innings with an average close to his four-day game record at 33.57 and a top score of 58, one of two fifties, and a further 10 catches. He bats right-handed and is a useful occasional off-break bowler.
Taylor, of part-Samoan descent, was born in Lower Hutt, Wellington, NZ on 8 March 1984 and captained the New Zealand team in all three formats of the game; in February 2020 he played his 100th test, against India, and became the first player to make 100 appearances in tests, in ODIs and in T20 internationals.
He is one of the new breed of ‘have bat, will travel’ cricketers, plying his trade in First-Class and limited-overs competitions in Australia, England, India, South Africa and the West Indies as well as at every level at home. At the end of 2021, Ross Taylor announced his retirement from international cricket, though he will continue to play franchise cricket and in local competitions in New Zealand.
January 2022
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 645