For a few minutes Seddon Park was praying for a New Zealand wicket in the hope that Ross Taylor would be out in the middle for one last time. With Martin Guptill and Will Young putting together a 203 run partnership, it looked highly likely that they would bat through to the end. Fortunately for the crowd, Guptill’s wicket bought out wild cheers as Ross Taylor strode out to the middle.

He was given a guard of honor by the Netherlands team and a warm applause from everyone in the stadium. Out in the middle for a last innings, Ross Taylor bought out the shots that carried him through his career. He swung with freedom and accumulated runs with ease in the midwicket region. That region was easy access to him in his prime as Ross Taylor murdered bowlers down there during his time in Royal Challenger Bangalore and later Shoaib Akthar in the World Cup.

He accumulated runs swiftly and gave the crowd a huge moment to cheer as he cleared the mid-wicket boundary with his vintage stroke. While he couldn’t give more moments to cheer by clearing the boundary, that one six was sufficient to satisfy the crowd. While going for another shot over mid-wicket he was unfortunate to miss out on his timing, giving a catch.

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As he walked out to bat, Martin Guptill stopped to allow Ross Taylor to have all the attention on him. After Ross Taylor got out, Nicholls, the next man in, waited for Ross Taylor to walk out, allowing him to embrace the applause. His journey of conquering attacks, scoring truckloads of runs and sticking out his tongue in celebration finally came to an end.

As a player, Ross Taylor achieved as much as any New Zealand cricketer would dream to achieve, He led the side for a decent period, had his own share of controversies, was a part of some incredible ICC events including the WTC win in 2021. His partnership with Kane Williamson is still one of the most iconic moments in World Cricket as two of the most prolific New Zealand batters steered the side to a win in an ICC event.

He finishes his career as New Zealand’s leading run-scorer in Test and One-day cricket. He is also the first player in the World to play a hundred games in each format of the game. His last six years has seen him go miles ahead of most batters as Ross Taylor continued to rise at a stage where most cricketers start their decline. As a batter, he is still a wonderful talent and easily competes with the best in the World, but has decided to call time on what has been a brilliant career.

He will go down as a role model in New Zealand, achieving so much and tormenting so many bowlers. Starting his career in 2006, Ross Taylor is finally done and will be proud of all he has gone through as he moves on to the next chapter in his life. He finished his Test career with a wicket and now bows out of all formats of a game with a catch as easy as they come.