Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor (Born March 8th, 1984) is an International Cricketer and former captain of the New Zealand cricket team, he was always at front while performing.

Ross is the leading run scorer for New Zealand in Test cricket who usually bats at number four. Ross completed his education from Palmerston, North New Zealand and was a hockey player before started playing professional cricket.

Taylor was captain of the Under-19 New Zealand team and has played several youth international matches. He also holds the highest list A score of 132* in domestic one day competitions in 2003-04. Taylor started his IPL career with RCB - Bangalore in 2008. He started his International career with New Zealand team in the ODIs against West Indies in march 2006.

Ross Taylor made his ODI debut against West Indies in March 2006. He scored only 15 runs in his first match which New Zealand won by 91 runs eventually. Taylor scored his maiden ODI century against Sri Lanka at Napier in December 2006. He also suffered dehydration and required a short hospital trip during the second inning in which Sanath Jayasurya played a huge knock defeating the kiwis in that match. Ross scored 84 against their opening match against Australia in the Commonwealth Bank Series 2006-07 but lost that match to Australia. Taylor scored his second ODI century against Australia in February 2007. He knocked 117 which was the second highest ODI score by a New Zealander against Australia at that time. Ross by then has established one of the most important no.3 and no.4 top order batting combination with Kane Williamson since Kane made his debut in ODIs. Taylor was made captain of the New Zealand team in an ODI against Australia in Napier on March 2010, when Daniel Vettori has to drop off just 30 minutes before the match started due to a severe neck ache. Taylor scored 70 and New Zealand won by 2 wickets, he was also the man of the match for that inning. Then later Taylor had served as captain in all formats for quite some time. Some of his career defining series have been Australian series of 2015, South African series of 2017, England series of 2018 and then The ICC World Cup 2019 in which he scored 15 in the finals against England and had he been not given out wrongly, the fate of New Zealand and the result of the ICC World Cup 2019 might have been something else.

Ross Taylor made his test debut in November 2007 against South Africa. He is a clean striker of the ball on the leg side and a part timer with off-break bowling. Taylor scored his maiden test century in March 2008 at Hamilton in the first test of 2007-08 series against England and was the leading scorer of the series. Ross then scored his career best inning of 154* against England at the Old Trafford in May 2008, this was his second hundred of his test career, Ross hit 5 sixes and 17 fours in it. Taylor scored his third Test hundred against India at Napier in March 2009, with 151 runs off 204 balls. The fourth century came in the subsequent match against India. It was a good 107 runs which pushed India away from victory and resulting the match into a draw. New Zealand cricket has found a true gem of a cricketer after a long and their hopes were really high with Ross which he ensured he proved his every worth on most of the occasions. For his tremendous performance in 2015, he was also named in the Test XI of the year 2015 by cricbuzz.

Ross Taylor started his IPL career with RCB - Bangalore in 2008 Indian Premier League auctions. Ross in his first season of IPL was not highlighted due to his average performances. Ross gained attention from IPL 2009 when he hit a smashing 81* of 33 balls against KKR - Kolkata. In 2011 IPL auctions he was signed by RR - Rajasthan for a whooping INR 4.6 Cr. The very next season he left RR - Rajasthan (RR) and joined Delhi Daredevils and again the next year in 2013 he moved to Pune Warriors in 2014 where he ended his IPL journey and that year being his last for T20 IPL cricket.

Ross Taylor made his T20I debut against Sri Lanka in December 2006. He has been an averagely consistent performer. Ross has so far played 102 T20 International matches with 1909 runs with an average of 25.45. His strike rate in the format is around 122.37. He is one of the composed athlete and at the same time great hitter of the ball. Ross Taylor’s not so good bonding with the coach Mike Hesson was somewhat responsible for his not so great performances in T20 Internationals. In his captaincy when New Zealand won some good and unconventional matches against Australia and Sri Lanka, soon Taylor resigned from the Captaincy and Brendon McCullum was asked to take charge of the same for all 3 formats.

RECORDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS • For season 2019 “New Zealand Cricketer of the Year award” • Won the “Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for the third time for excelling across all formats” • Taylor also became the first cricketer to play in 100 matches in all three formats of international cricket • Batting at number four, he is the leading run-scorer for New Zealand in Test cricket Ross Taylor’s career best 290 came in 2015 against Australia. In 2019 he added another double century against Bangladesh on his career board. Due to ageing even though his fitness was not upto the mark and World Cup 2019 was around the corner. Taylor’s focus was not at all blur from the title. One of his finest innings against England in 2018 he scored 181* to a big chase. In the 2019 ICC World Cup he was key to New Zealand’s success in the semi final against India. His fine half century played a crucial role in their 2019 World Cup semi-final victory.