Hamilton 15 August : Hamilton, Aug 15 : New Zealand cricketer Ross Taylor disclosed that he tried to get England Test captain Ben Stokes play cricket for his country of birth.In his autobiography that was recently published, “Ross Taylor Black & White”, Taylor talked about his plan to have Stokes to play in New Zealand while he was playing for English county team Durham in 2010. “He was either 18 or 19 and was very obviously a Kiwi.Over an Guinness I asked him whether he wanted to take part in New Zealand.
He was keen , so I sent a note to New Zealand Cricket CEO Justin Vaughan telling him that Stokes was a great young cricketer and was interested in playing for New Zealand,” wrote Taylor in his book, an excerpt of that was released by stuff.co.nz on Monday.
However, his response was not promising however, as he insists on Stokes beginning his cricket career with the domestic side in New Zealand rather than speeding up his progression to the national side.”Vaughan responded in the form that he could begin playing cricket in New Zealand and take a look at how it went.”
“I returned saying that we’d need to offer him more than that, as he would not be interested in starting at the bottom of the ladder.It was clear that it didn’t lead to any conclusion,” further wrote Taylor.
Stokes was born in Christchurch, New Zealand and moved to England at the age of 12 after his father, a former professional player in the sport of rugby, Gerard Stokes, got a professional league coaching position in Cumbria.
“Ben was honest about his decision to play for New Zealand, but NZC should have acted quickly and decisively, and also given him some fairly solid assurances, something Vaughan evidently wasn’t ready to give,” added Taylor.
Stokes was the first player to make his England ODI debut in 2011, at the age of 20 and played his first Test in the 2013 Ashes series in Australia.
In the end, Stokes took home the 2019 ODI World Cup final for England against New Zealand in a thrilling final at Lord’s where the hosts prevailed through Super Over.He won the Player of the Award in the final due to his undefeated score of 84.
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