No doubt Will Young will be in the mix for selection, states Ross Taylor

05/18/2021

Ross Taylor stated that it is heartening to see plenty of Kiwis get the opportunity to play County Cricket and believes that Durham’s Will Young will be right in the mix for a place in the starting XI. Heading into the England tour, Young currently has scored two hundreds in his last three innings.

Kane Williamson, Tom Latham and Ross Taylor have all, in the past, honed their red-ball game playing in the County Championship and currently doing the same is rising star Will Young. The 28-year-old, who broke into the national side last summer and now holds a central contract, struck a deal with Durham and has been in sensational form this season. After a rocky start - 24, 0, 1 and 21 - Young notched up his maiden ton of the season against Warwickshire and last week followed it up with a match-winning second-inning ton versus Worcestershire to propel his side to third in the table.

Young, along with Devon Conway, will be eyeing for the seemingly gettable opening slot that Tom Blundell currently holds, and Ross Taylor believes that the 28-year-old will definitely be in the mix for selection. Taylor further expressed delight over the fact that there is a steady rise in the number of Kiwis partaking in the County Championship.

"It's nice to see these guys get an opportunity to play county cricket," Taylor said of Young, reported ESPN Cricinfo.

"I guess before the IPL, county cricket was sort of where you cut your teeth in and learned your craft. The way Will has gone over there and got two first-class 100s, I sent him a message last night and said 'well done'. And I'm sure he'll be looking forward to joining the team in a few days.

"I guess it just adds another different dimension to the team. I'm sure Steady [coach Gary Stead] and Kane will have an idea of what their team is, but this puts another spanner in the works. I'm sure Will is there or thereabouts. It's a nice place to be.”

Taylor toured England for the first time 13 years ago but ahead of the most-important two-month period in the country’s Test history, there is an injury cloud hanging over the 37-year-old’s head, thanks to the veteran suffering a calf strain. However, Taylor insisted that he is ‘comfortable’ where he's currently at, and claimed that reports regarding niggles tend to get blown up when a player is in the wrong side of their thirties.

"Obviously you don't want to have those little niggles and this niggle came about trying to get the hamstring right. It's part and parcel of being an international cricketer.

"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."

The Kiwis, ahead of the two-Test series versus England, were originally scheduled to play a four-day warm-up match versus Somerset but that got cancelled owing to bio-bubble complications. The Blackcaps will, instead, now lock horns in an intra-squad game and Taylor expects the contest to be a ‘spicy’ one.

"I'll go Williamson team. They'll win . Obviously with 20 players there and then the IPL guys, a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. This was just going to be the guys who went over, where you add the IPL players to the mix I think.

"So that'll add a little bit more spice. It'll be nice to get a proper game but playing amongst ourselves is probably not a bad thing as well."