In the aftermath of Ross Taylor's disastrous series against India that ended with an ungainly array of wild slogs, Black Caps coach Gary Stead has offered a defence of the veteran that was just as flimsy.
Taylor's spot in the side has come under the microscope after a tour inwhich he scored just 20 runs for four dismissals. In the second test in Mumbai he could do nothing about Mohammed Siraj's first-inning delivery which cleaned out his off stump on just his second ball, but in the second innings he was removed by Ravichandran Ashwin after eight deliveries in which he looked nothing like New Zealand's all-time top test runscorer.
When he swung for the fences off the first ball he received, Taylor had clearly opted to take the attack to the Indian bowlers, but unlike Daryl Mitchell, who did so while also respecting good deliveries with solid defence, Taylor looked like a man who trusted neither his defence or his technique.
It doesn't take a private investigator to unveil who Stead was talking about after day three when he pondered dismissals that made him think "geez, could we have done that a little bit better?", and he acknowledged all parties would be disappointed by Taylor's returns in India, including that Mumbai innings.
"I think Ross will go back and be disappointed in that. It's a fine balance though between trying to play aggressively and putting the spinners under pressure and also trusting your defence to bat for long periods. If you look throughout the whole test, Mayank Agarwal was one of the few players that actually managed to do that, and we still went past the outside edge of his bat on a regular basis."
Ross Taylor and Gary Stead during a Black Caps training session. Photo / Photosport
The last of Taylor's 19 test centuries came in 2019, and since 2020 he has averaged just 28.3, though that figure includes some solid contributions against England last year.
But, with Mitchell and Will Young having both produced several higher scores than Taylor in that timeframe, the 37-year-old is under the most pressure for his place in some time.
When pressed whether Taylor is his first-choice No 4, Stead ducked the question.
"The thing that's encouraging for our team is that we have more options now than what we did have a year or two years ago, we've seen the emergence of Will Young and Daryl Mitchell in particular who have come onto the test scene and done really well. But let's not also forget that Ross Taylor has an amazing record behind him, he's been one of New Zealand's premier batsmen for a long time and you don't lose that class over one tour."
Despite his reluctance to give his full unquestioned support to Taylor, Stead did make solid arguments about Taylor's lack of game time before the series, having been locked down in Auckland and not having played cricket since the World Test Championship final.
"Ross has had a disappointing tour by his standards, but he's been an exceptional player for New Zealand for a long period of time. He's not the only guy who's come to India or Asian conditions and struggled. There's some factors behind it, with the lack of match time beforehand, we had a couple of trainings before this second test that were washed out as well, which didn't allow us to get the complete preparation that might have allowed the guys to have a better chance."
With Kane Williamson and possibly Devon Conway unavailable for the Black Caps' next test series against Bangladesh, Taylor should have few issues retaining his place. But, with Taylor three tests away from passing Daniel Vettori for the most tests for New Zealand, he'll need to cash in against Bangladesh to reach that famous milestone.
