New Zealand swashbuckler Ross Taylor has surpassed former skipper Stephen Fleming to be the leading run scorer for the Blackcaps in One-Day Internationals. The 34-year old achieved the feat during the third ODI against Bangladesh in Dunedin.
Taylor played a gritty knock of 69 in the third ODI, taking his tally to 8021 ODI runs whereas Fleming made 8007 runs.
By crossing the 8K mark, the right-handed batsman also became the fourth fastest to reach the milestone after Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and former India captain Sourav Ganguly.
Taylor's ODI career consists of 20 tons and 47 half-centuries. Also, it was at Dunedin, where Taylor had scored his best score of an unbeaten 181.
His 69 helped the hosts post 330/6 after being put to bat by Bangladesh. Along with Taylor, Henry Nicholls (64) and Tom Latham (59) also scored their respective half-centuries.
Taking during the innings break, Taylor felt that it was nice to set the bar for the upcoming players.
“I definitely would have taken that when I played my first match donkey’s years ago,” he said.
“If you play long enough I guess these records come along but it’s nice to set the bar for the next guy.
“I’m still enjoying myself and hopefully I’ve still got a few years in me.”
Taylor holds a good record in the Test format, as well. He is just 649 runs behind Fleming who is the top run getter for New Zealand in the longest format of the game.
