Ross Taylor hopeful of making the cut for the Test Championship final despite a calf injury

With England slated to host New Zealand for a two-match Test series starting June 2, premier Black Caps batsman Ross Taylor sounded optimistic about recovering from his calf strain and getting available for the Test series and the ICC World Test Championship final against India.

 In a bid to get acclimatised to the conditions in England ahead of the WTC final, New Zealand will play the two-match Test series against England just before the big match. 

Taylor who has been one of the most dependable Kiwi batsmen besides Kane Williamson recently suffered a calf strain during their training session at their high-performance centre at Lincoln earlier this month.

“Obviously you don’t want to have those little niggles and this [calf] niggle came about trying to get the hamstring right,” Taylor was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo. 

“It’s part and parcel of being an international cricketer,” Taylor further added. The star batsman left for UK along with his teammates Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and BJ Watling on Monday. 

“More is made of it when you get older. If you get a calf or a hamstring injury at 32, nothing’s made of it, but when you’re 37, there’s a few more headlines, but it is what it is, and I’m comfortable with where I’m at,” quipped the attacking middle-order batsman.

Taylor who kicked off his Test career in England way back in 2008 is hopeful of continuing his dominance. The swashbuckling batsman smashed an unbeaten 154 during his maiden Test series at Manchester. 

“[A] hundred-odd Tests later, [England is] still a great place to play cricket — probably one of the best tours to go on. Obviously being in a bubble is going to be a bit strange. Thirteen years ago, fond memories of that tour and still to date one of the best innings I’ve played in Manchester in the second Test,” Taylor concluded.