By Andrew Gourdie
2011 has been a year of added responsibility for Ross Taylor as he has become a husband, a father and captain of the Black Caps.
By his own admission Ross Taylor has been an absent father to three-month-old Mackenzie. It is part of the reason he knocked back several offers to play in the Australian 20-20 competition this summer.
“She's a priority now, it's a nice balance to have Mackenzie there when you don't do well. She doesn't know you've gone out for a golden duck in the only test match she's come and watched.”
This is a side of Taylor cricket fans do not often see. Off the field the 27-year-old is shy, quiet, and private.
“I don't think the New Zealand public know who I am,” he says. “I'm not one of those people who like to be in magazines; my job is to score runs and win games of cricket for New Zealand.”
It is a job that brings out another side of Taylor – the aggressive batsman and skipper.
He has won two of his three tests as captain since assuming the role in June and in that short time he has discovered he us a leader whose actions speak louder than words.
“My philosophy coming into the captaincy is lead from the front in scoring runs. If I’m not scoring runs then I’m not leading from the front and other players can't follow.”
Admittedly driven by stats, Taylor says that means improving on his test average of just over 40.
Turning fifties into hundreds, and being consistently ranked in the top ten batsmen in the world across all formats.
“Ultimately to be number one for a period of time over the next few years, hopefully a few of those guns can retire and get up there a bit earlier.”
If he can achieve his own goals, it will go some way to helping a talented young side realise their potential.
He is targeting test series wins at home against Zimbabwe and South Africa this summer to improve the side's test ranking – the first step to achieving long term targets.
“We're down at eight but we've got a lot of test matches over the next few years to try and get those rankings up, but I guess the ultimate is winning a world cup as well.”
He believes he has the team to do that.
Having made a solid start to his captaincy career, Taylor has got a month off international duties to focus on other parts of his game
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