{"id":115672,"date":"2025-09-05T05:15:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T05:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/115672\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T05:15:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T05:15:07","slug":"ross-taylor-comes-out-of-retirement-legend-ditches-new-zealand-to-play-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/115672\/","title":{"rendered":"Ross Taylor comes out of retirement, legend ditches New Zealand to play for…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former New Zealand<\/a> batter Ross Taylor<\/a>, who represented the Kiwis in 112 Tests, 236 ODIs and 102 T20Is, is coming out of retirement. Yes, you read that right. However, there’s a twist to the tale as he won’t be representing the BlackCaps. The 41-year-old is all set to represent Samoa<\/a> in the upcoming Asia-East Asia-Pacific T20 World Cup 2026 Qualifier in Oman as the nation tries to seal a qualification in the tournament set to be played in India and Sri Lanka next year.<\/p>\n

\"New New Zealand legend Ross Taylor has come out of retirement.(Action Images via Reuters) <\/p>\n

Taylor has been named in Samoa’s squad for the Asia-East Asia-Pacific T20 World Cup 2026 Qualifier, the last step in the nation’s journey to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. The qualifying tournament will begin on October 8, 2025.<\/p>\n

Ross Taylor made the announcement on Instagram, making it official. He termed the decision as something more than just a \u201creturn to the game\u201d he dearly loves.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing out of retirement. It\u2019s official \u2013 I\u2019m proud to announce that I\u2019ll be pulling on the blue and representing Samoa in cricket. This is more than just a return to the game I love \u2014 it\u2019s the huge honour to represent my heritage, culture, villages, and family,\u201d said Taylor on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Also Read: \u2018A teammate used to tell me\u2026\u2019: Ross Taylor opens up about racism in New Zealand cricket<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited for the opportunity to give back to the game, join the squad, and share my experience on and off the field. Time to get back out there \u2013 #685 to the world! CHEEEHOOO,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

All you need to know about Ross Taylor and Samoa<\/p>\n

According to the official website of the ICC, Taylor holds a Samoan passport through his mother’s heritage. He became eligible for his second national team after a three-year standout period following his last game for New Zealand in April 2022.<\/p>\n

For New Zealand, Ross Taylor scored more than 18,000 runs across all formats of the game, including 1909 at a strike rate of 122.37 in his T20I career.<\/p>\n

The right-hander also played seven editions of the Indian Premier League and five editions of the Caribbean Premier League.<\/p>\n

Samoa T20 Squad: Caleb Jasmat (c), Ross Taylor, Darius Visser, Sean Solia, Daniel Burgess, Douglas Finau, Sam French, Kurtis Hynam-Nyberg, Ben Mailata, Noah Mead, Solomon Nash, Samson Sola, Fereti Sululoto, Saumani Tiai, Ili Tugaga.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former New Zealand batter Ross Taylor, who represented the Kiwis in 112 Tests, 236 ODIs and 102 T20Is,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[55590,1721,620,4528,55588,55589,3857,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-115672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-asia-east-asia-pacific-t20-world-cup-2026-qualifier","tag-cricket","tag-new-zealand","tag-oman","tag-ross-taylor","tag-ross-taylor-retirement","tag-samoa","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}