It was in February 2019 that Taylor had even gone past Fleming in the ODI run-getters list and became the batsman with most ODI runs under his belt.
New Zealands Ross Taylor fields during the fourth day of the third cricket Test match between Australia and New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney on January 6, 2020. (Photo by JEREMY NG / AFP)
In a recent turn of events, New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor has become the country’s leading run-scorer in Test match cricket as he surpassed former Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming’s tally of runs in the traditional format of the game.
Notably, Taylor achieved this record on the fourth day of the third and final test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) when he hit Aussie spinner Nathon Lyon over mid-on and came and ran three runs.
With this particular shot off Lyon, Taylor took his runs tally to 7,174 from as many as 99 Tests and 174 innings at a healthy average of 46.28 which included 19 hundreds and 33 half-centuries.
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Meanwhile, Fleming had scored 7,172 runs in 111 Test matches that he played for his national team between 1994 and 2008. He is, not without a reason, widely regarded as one of the finest Kiwi players especially in Test Cricket.
Despite breaking Fleming’s record, this has not been a series to remember for him and the New Zealand side. Taylor could have easily gone on to break Fleming’s record in Melbourne itself but managed to score just 6 runs. However, despite struggling for most of the series, with scores of 80, 22, 4, 2, 22 and 22 in six innings, Taylor is still the second top scorer for New Zealand in the series which is enough to indicate the failure of the Kiwi batsmen on this Australia tour.
It was in February 2019 that Taylor had even gone past Fleming in the ODI run-getters list and became the batsman with most ODI runs under his belt. He in fact has the most runs in all international formats for the Kiwi team- surpassing 17,250 runs in this innings including 39 fifties and 88 half-centuries.
Another milestone awaits Ross Taylor as he is all set to become just the fourth Kiwi cricketer – after Fleming, Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum, to play 100 Test matches when he takes the field against India in Wellington on 21 February, Friday.
(With stats and inputs from IANS).
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