Taylor in Napier

After so much waiting and anticipation for Ross Taylor's inclusion in the New Zealand team I wouldn't have been surprised to have seen him fail miserably in his first game back. But instead he smacked a brilliant unbeaten century against Sri Lanka. Along the way he suffered pretty severe leg cramps. The last New Zealand batsman to suffer leg cramps was Mark Richardson and I bet Ross wouldn't be too unhappy to end up with a similar career record. Cramps apart though, you couldn't pick two more different players than Richardson and Taylor. Where Richardson was technically correct with a rock solid defence, Taylor seems to rely on a good eye, fast hands and a very heavy bat. It took a while for Taylor's feet to start moving (nerves perhaps?) and sometimes he played across his pads, so he isn't the most classical batsman - but when he started playing shots he played beautifully. His opening boundary - an off-drive off Vaas - a gentle flick off his toes for six off Malinga and a trio of thumping leg-side wallops will live in the memory for a long time.