“He’s scored a lot of runs at home”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is confident that veteran batsman Ross Taylor will regain his touch with the bat in the upcoming Test series against Pakistan.

Taylor only managed to score 89 runs at a disappointing average of 14.83 in the three-Test series against India, and to make things worse, he has failed to make more than 44 runs in his last 14 innings across all formats.

Williamson, though, is optimistic Taylor will snap his run of bad form in the two-Test series against Pakistan, which begins on Thursday in Christchurch.

“He knows the conditions well, he’s scored a lot of runs at home, so he will be looking to apply himself as best he can and hopefully make a great contribution tomorrow,” Williamson said.

With rain forecasted for the opening day of the first Test, Williamson revealed that a final decision on the playing XI would be taken after he inspected the conditions at the Hagley Oval. However, the 26-year-old confirmed that uncapped opener Jeet Raval would make his Test debut.

Raval came into the squad at the expense of Martin Guptill, who was dropped after a dismal tour of India, during which he only managed to amass 72 runs in three Tests at an average of 26.50.