A Modern Day Stat
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Midway through his innings on Saturday Ross Taylor became the 25th New Zealand batsman to score 10,000 first class runs.
The 25th.
At first glance this seems extraordinary for a player who is in the top two or three of every international list there is going around.
He is well behind the likes of Dipak Patel, Jeff Crowe, Craig Spearman, Hamish Marshall, Sir Richard Hadlee, and a bloke named Dacre.
This shows the changing nature of modern cricket as well as any stat. In these days of constant international cricket, across multiple formats and all those T20 leagues there isn’t really much time or need for first class cricket for an established international cricketer.
Noting how he now has more than 14,000 international runs which is more than every other New Zealander. All 24 of them.
Recent appearances for Central Districts have been pretty rare, and he has also played only one season of County cricket. Most, although not all, of those above him have served decent stints in England
The 17th test century story, seven runs short on Saturday, will need to wait for another day. Most of them were written at the time, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.