Australia v New Zealand: Kiwi veteran Ross Taylor returns to city of greatest triumph and near triple century
Facing Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood on a bruising WACA deck isn’t an ideal scenario when out of form. But it proved a lightbulb moment for New Zealand great Ross Taylor.
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The last time Ross Taylor played in Perth he came away realising his career still had a heartbeat.
And it wasn’t because the New Zealand batting great had just posted the highest score by any international player on Australian soil.
Taylor’s 290 in the drawn Test at the WACA four years ago is remembered for a host of reasons, none more than what the New Zealand batting great discovered about himself.
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The epic knock helped the Black Caps avoid a 3-0 whitewash in what was their most recent series in Australia.
An improved team return next week for another three-match crack, starting at Perth’s Optus Stadium.
The venue is just across the Swan River from where Taylor’s nine-hour vigil played out, the second-highest score against Australia in any form of the game.
It’s only bettered by Len Hutton’s 364 in London 80 years ago.
Making the knock more meritorious was Taylor’s delicate physical state, having undergone testicular surgery just three months earlier after copping a blow where it hurts most during a tour of Zimbabwe.
Advised that another such impact at that stage could have serious repercussions, Taylor took guard against pace merchants Mitchell Johnson - in his farewell Test - Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
As the bravery unfolded, the Kiwi run-maker also discovered why his form had begun to deteriorate over the two previous years.
Days out from the Test, an optometrist had diagnosed a worsening eyesight condition.
It was a lightbulb moment for the former skipper, who wondered why he had floundered so badly in the first Test at Brisbane a week earlier.
“It was nice to know there was something wrong and it gave me reassurance that I wasn’t just a really bad cricket player,” Taylor said.
“There was something else going on, it had happened gradually over time and at last I could acknowledge what it was. It gave me confidence to go on at that stage.”
Aided by superior vision, he’s stockpiled runs in all formats through his early 30s.
Coming off a century this week in the second Test against England in Hamilton, Taylor needs just 151 more to usurp Stephen Fleming as New Zealand’s most prolific Test batsman.
He did exactly that in the 50-over format earlier this year, leapfrogging Fleming to the top of the Kiwi ODI list.
More milestones can wait. He’ll take his mind off cricket this week - his young family are moving house - and once in Perth will make sure nobody gets carried away by the looming occasion.
“To do well in Australia, just acknowledge that it’s going to be hard and fast cricket,” he said.
“There’s always a lot of hype around a series like this. You’ve got to enjoy and embrace the challenge. I can’t think of a better place to tour.”
Originally published as Australia v New Zealand: Kiwi veteran Ross Taylor returns to city of greatest triumph and near triple century
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