Ross Taylor Surprised Over Axing For South Africa T20I Match

Feb 14, 2017 at 11:25 AM

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Ross Taylor Surprised Over Axing For South Africa T20I Match

Vowing to continue playing for New Zealand for at least two-and-a-half to three years, veteran Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor has expressed his disappointment on being left out of the team for the upcoming one-off Twenty20 International (T20I) against South Africa without being given a concrete reason.

The 32-year old’s last T20I appearance for the Black Caps came during the 2016 World T20 when New Zealand made the semi-finals. However, the prolific run-scorer had a dismal outing in the sub-continent as he could score only 91 runs from five outings.

The right-handed batsman was also not a part of the squad for the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh. At that time, national selector Gavin Larsen had said the team was picked on performance basis. Colin Munro, Corey Anderson and Tom Bruce were picked as middle-order batsmen and have been retained for the South Africa match after playing a big part in helping the Black Caps inflict a whitewash on Bangladesh.

Taylor roared back to form in the limited-overs game with a century against Australia in the final match of the recently concluded Chappell-Hadlee series but it was not enough for him to earn a spot in the T20 team.

“Um, he just said I’m not in the team. He hasn’t really said anything else,” Taylor told Radio Sport in an interview.

“I asked the question when I got dropped for Bangladesh and he [Hesson] said ‘this is the best team that we feel for this tour against Bangladesh’ and I suppose you’ve just got to respect the decision that he made. For this game I just heard I wasn’t selected and I didn’t ask any questions.

“I’ve always said to myself I can play till at least the 2019 World Cup. I still think I’ve got at least two-and-a-half to three years in me,” he added.

Meanwhile, the former New Zealand skipper feels he can see the ball well now after undergoing an eye surgery in December.

“I’d hope so. It’s the best I’ve seen the ball for a long time. I underestimated how bad my eye was beforehand and how much it’s improved over a short period of time. I dropped a few catches that I shouldn’t have, but it’s nice to actually see the ball for a change,” he said.

Interestingly, Taylor has been included in the New Zealand XI team for the warm-up T20 tie against South Africa, to be held on Tuesday (February 14). He is also a part of the ODI squad.

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