“We’ll see what Hess has in store for me and my future in the team”
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Veteran batsman Ross Taylor was left out of New Zealand’s squad for the one-off Twenty20 International against South Africa on Friday in Auckland, and is now seeking clarification on whether he has a future in the shortest format.
Taylor, who has not played Twenty20 cricket since last year’s World Twenty20, was also not present in the three-match Twenty20 series against Bangladesh last month, but upon approaching head coach Mike Hesson to get an answer as to why he had been dropped, the 32-year-old admitted that he was not given the clearest of responses.
“He [Hesson] just said I’m not in the team…all he said was that this was the best team for Bangladesh and said I wasn’t selected for South Africa,” Taylor told Radio Sport. “I asked the question when I got dropped for Bangladesh. You have to respect the decision. You have a review at the end of the season and we’ll see what Hess has in store for me and my future in the team I guess.”
When questioned about the reason why Taylor failed to make the cut for the Twenty20 squad, Hesson told reporters in Auckland on Tuesday that the form of the other players in the side did not warrant them being axed in favour of Taylor, whose highest score in his last 14 innings in Twenty20 Internationals in 36 not out.
“That’s the nutshell. There’s not a role there at the moment because guys there have done so well,” Hesson said. “It’s very difficult for Ross because there aren’t going to be many opportunities. We have those issues all the time. We know Ross is a quality player, we know he’s keen to play T20 cricket but at the moment we have a side playing pretty well.
“Following the Bangladesh selection Gavin Larsen and I talked to him at length. There’s certainly been some communication. We communicate every day. Like every player they want to know how to get back in. That’s quite natural.”
But, since returning from surgery to remove a pterygium in his left eye, Taylor has been in impressive form and even scored a game-winning 107 in the third ODI against Australia earlier this month to help New Zealand regain the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.
“It’s the best I’ve seen ball for a long time,” he said. “I think I underestimated how bad my eye was beforehand and how much it has improved over a small period.”