Taylor plans to feast on good fortune
Ross Taylor admitted he owed Kamran Akmal a slap-up meal after Pakistan's blundering wicket-keeper gifted him two World Cup lives, but now the century-maker wants to feast on more runs.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: March 09, 2011 06:51 PM IST
Ross Taylor admitted he owed Kamran Akmal a slap-up meal after Pakistan's blundering wicket-keeper gifted him two World Cup lives, but now the century-maker wants to feast on more runs.
Akmal missed two chances to dismiss the New Zealand vice-captain in the same Shoaib Akhtar over when he was on nought and eight.
Taylor went on to smash a career-best unbeaten 131 off 124 balls which lifted New Zealand to 302-7 before they restricted Pakistan to 192 for a 110-run win.
"It's been well documented back home that I haven't been in the greatest form of my life. It's been frustrating for myself, and probably a lot of others as well," said Taylor, who hit his century on his 27th birthday.
"When you're out of nick you need a bit of luck and I got that.
"Over the last few months I've been trying to search for the perfect game and today, and even the last couple of games, I've just tried to keep things as simple as possible and just watch the ball. Today was my day."
Taylor jokingly admitted he owed Akmal a free meal for his unwitting help in setting up his birthday treat.
"Whatever Kamran wants, I think I owe him dinner or something," said Taylor after Tuesday's match which put New Zealand on top of Group A with six points from four matches and a better net run-rate than second-placed Pakistan.
Taylor, who ended the night deputising for Daniel Vettori after the skipper limped off with a knee injury while attempting a catch, said he had received a series of good wishes messages.
"I didn't get any presents, so that was a pretty good present (two dropped catches). I was on my emails and Facebook and Twitter this morning and I had a lot of birthday wishes.
"A lot of them said it would be good to get a hundred on your birthday. More often than not that doesn't come, but today it did," said Taylor, whose last hundred came against Bangladesh in October 2008.
In all Taylor hit seven sixes and eight boundaries in his fourth one-day hundred, improving on his 128 not out against Sri Lanka at Napier in 2006.
Taylor paid tribute to his teammates.
"My dropped chance obviously had a little bit to play in the result. But I thought the way Kyle Mills and Tim Southee bowled was outstanding," said Taylor of the pacemen who took five wickets between them to leave Pakistan at 45-5.
"To chase a score of 300 and to be four or five down in the first 15 or 20 overs put Pakistan on the back foot pretty quickly.
"We would have liked to have wrapped it up a bit quicker, but in saying that if you'd asked me at the start of the day if we'd win by 100 runs I would have taken it."
New Zealand next play Canada in Mumbai on March 13.