Is Ross Taylor being overhyped as a Test player?

[Pup Clarke]

I mean the guy's had one good series and I've heard from some quarters that he's supposedly NZ's best batsman ahead of Oram and Vettori.

Plus his god awful technique that will be exposed by every left armer in test cricket, I was basically cringing when Sidebottom was bowling to him but he somehow survived with his wicket in tact.

Can someone become a "great" test match batsman with having such a technical weakness?

 

[Tim]

He's played 5 tests, I think it's better off judging him after at least 10. I think he's going out with the plan of dominating but he's still too in-experienced to be able to find a balance.

 

[Richard]

He's a front-line batsman, which Oram and Vettori are not. Taylor could undoubtedly be a fine player.

Sure, he played a truly woeful knock yesterday. But he also showed before that that he could end-up better than anyone currently in the side.

BTW - multiple-choice on yes and no, ITSTL.

 

[Manee]

Yes, he is being overhyped at Test level. In Test cricket, visible potential counts for little and the main judge is FC performances and Test performances so far, which have both been average for Taylor. Furthermore, Taylor's knock against England yesterday was laughable, showing a lack of mental nouse.

 

[Richard]

nouse.

No e TBH.

 

[Manee]

That is a moote point.

 

[Richard]

Haha, well played.

 

[sledger]

Not overhyped imo, but tbh I wasnt really aware that there was much hype surrounding this player, as far as I was aware the general consensus was that he was "pretty decent".

 

[Langeveldt]

Think people are overanalysing his woeful innings yesterday..

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

More potential than any of the NZ top order, and more likely than Oram and Vettori to score big, even at this stage in his career. Taylor has played a handful of Tests and I haven't noticed any significant hype around him. He's being touted as the next big thing from New Zealand, but given the legacy of "big things" from New Zealand, that's not too bold a claim. New Zealand has always been greater than the sum of its parts.

I'm certain that his technique will improve.

 

[slugger]

i thought ryder was the hyped up player..

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

i thought ryder was the hyped up player..

Ryder is definitely overhyped. People were talking about his big breakthrough series against England. He played a couple of good innings. That's all. Even CricInfo over-rated him. He needs to do a lot more.

 

[Athlai]

Taylor and Ryder are the new golden boys of New Zealand, Taylor due to him not being a total moron is touted as the stable scorer, while Ryder being an idiot is our fire child. Yet out on the pitch thats completely different, Ryder who did have success in his first few ODI's has to date been somewhat of a FC specialist, while Taylor is the stroke player. Reckon both will be gun.

 

[Jono]

I have to vote yes and no because I can.

 

[Tim]

I think Ross has a bit of work to do in tests, but that's no surprise as he hasn't played much test cricket.

I think his form in the IPL showed he's coming along nicely in the shorter format. He was by far the most consistent batsmen for Bangalore in the IPL before he left...going from a bench-sitter to actually having the fans sad to see him go because he was the only one scoring runs often enough.

I mean, he's got 1 century and 3 half-centuries in 5 tests. Not a bad return so far.

 

[NUFAN]

Taylor wouldn't even make most Test countries top 6, yet he's seen as the key to NZ's batting. Terribe, terrible top 6 has NZ.

 

[Somerset]

Quick answer is no. He's obviously out of touch at the moment, but as his 120 against England in the series here a couple of months ago shows, when he can find his form and play with a reasonable technique hes got plenty of potential.

 

[Flem274*]

I'm going to give Taylor a decent run before I start judging. He's improving, though he took a step back in his innings yesterday. Too early to judge, there's been so many who have made amazing or indifferent starts to their careers and gone on to be completely different.

 

[Richard]

Far more players than not tend to have poor starts to their Test careers. Often it's because they're picked when they shouldn't have been - like Taylor against South Africa for instance.

As I said, though - I think this thread is purely the result of that woeful, abysmal, shockingly poor innings on Thursday. Although it's rare to see someone play that badly at the Test level, it is just a single innings. Think Master Howgate has been a little hasty TBH.

 

[BoyBrumby]

If he is (and I'm undecided, really) it's understandable. NZ has lost an awful lot of batting talent over the last couple of years for one reason or another (Richardson, McMillan, Astle & Fleming off the top of my head) & here's a young bloke who looks immediately that he's a test player when one first sees him (admittedly if you hadn't seen him before the 1st innings of the current test you might wonder what the fuss was about, but anyway) so given the players around him it's only natural that such talent brings a certain level of expectation.