Ross Taylor pays heart-warming tribute to Martin Crowe after going past 17 Test tons

The relationship between Martin Crowe, considered one of the greatest players to come from New Zealand and Ross Taylor, the modern-day great of the Blackcaps side is heart-warming and legendary. When Crowe was battling with lymphoma in 2015, Crowe wrote a emotional letter and termed Taylor as the 'son he never had'. “To see the two sons I never had, Ross Taylor and Marty Guptill, run out in black, in sync with their close comrades, drawing on all their resolve and resilience, will be mesmerically satisfying.” For a very long time, Taylor considered Crowe as his mentor and always looked up to him when he was undergoing a lean patch. During the Wellington Test against Bangladesh, Taylor overtook Crowe's tally of 17 centuries and became second in the all-time list of centuries scored by New Zealand players behind Kane Williamson's 20. 

Whenever Taylor would score a century, he would raise his bat and stick his tongue out. However, on this occasion, when Taylor reached 200, he just raised his bat twice and whispered a 'silent prayer'. Taylor had fulfilled the prophecy of Crowe when he said he would go past his tally in the coming years. The touching tribute by Taylor drew admiration from plenty of fans. “I told Hogan (Crowe) 'my apologies' for taking so long to get there. Seventeen was such a big number when I just started playing cricket. Once I got there it was probably a bit of a relief and then I didn't kick on. It was probably a little in my subconscious,” Taylor said. 

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In the course of his innings, Taylor also passed Crowe's record for the most runs scored at the Basin Reserve "so he's probably a bit annoyed with that one," the batting mainstay quipped. Taylor, who was dropped twice on 20, featured in a 172-run stand with Kane Williamson for the third wicket and shared a 216-run partnership with Henry Nicholls for the fourth. Nicholls made 107 which was his fifth century. Williamson took no further part in the day's play and went for a scan on the shoulder which proved inconclusive and he will have a second scan on Tuesday. 

At stumps on day four at Basin Reserve, where the first two days were washed out, Bangladesh were 80 for three, still 141 from making New Zealand bat again. With 23 overs left in the day, Bangladesh had a disastrous start to their second innings when Tamim Iqbal was bowled in the first over. After innings of 126 and 74 twice so far in the series, Bangladesh's leading run-scorer was out for four. Mominul Haque followed for 10 and Shadman Islam for 29 leaving Mohammad Mithun on 25 with Soumya Sarkar not out 12.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Ross Taylor is second in the all-time list of New Zealand players with 18 Test tons.
• Kane Williamson has the most Test centuries with 20.
• New Zealand have never lost a Test against Bangladesh.