Taylor is just five matches short of becoming the most capped New Zealand cricketer and with a full home season coming up, he should be able to go past Daniel Vettori’s 437 appearances for the national team, across all formats of the game.
While getting past Vettori’s number looks like a foregone conclusion, the right-hander who will turn 37 this March, has already set his eyes on a prospective fifth World Cup appearance. “2023 was going to be a stretch, I think, at the best of times, when it was February and March and now the World Cup has been dragged out to October and November ’23, it’s another six or seven months to hang around,” Taylor said, in an interaction in Auckland, ahead of Friday’s first Twenty20 international against West Indies according to the reports published in cricbuzz.com.
“You’ve got to have short-term goals and long-term goals and the one-day World Cup is definitely on the radar. I might have to trim things back leading into that – as I said, I’m not getting any younger. It doesn’t mean I will make it, but, it’s definitely one of my goals,” Taylor added.
Taylor said the impending record is ‘just a number’. “I was really happy to play one or two games for New Zealand,” the 36-year old said.
“I’ve still got to get there first, but my mentor, Martin Crowe, always used to say records are meant to be broken for the next guy to come beat. Whatever number of games I end up on, hopefully Kane (Williamson, currently on 291 caps) and whoever comes through can beat that and keep setting the bar higher,” he added.
Taylor has had very little cricket under his belt since March and that meant plenty of family time. He did feature in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in late August, but is happy to be back to the grind now. “When you’re a parent, it’s nice to have your kids around, but you’ve normally got a little bit of your mind on the game you’re playing in a couple of days’ time,” he said.
“To have a complete break away from that and not have the excuse to that you’ve got a game in a couple of days time and to be present with my family was something I’ll never forget, but at the same time, you’re only a cricketer for a certain period of time, and I’m not getting any younger, so I’ve got to make the most of every opportunity I can,” Taylor added.
The West Indies series is just the start of a long summer for the hosts which also includes games across different formats with Pakistan, Australia and Bangladesh later on.
