Former NZ great makes claims of racial abuse

Recently retired New Zealand cricketer Ross Taylor, who is widely considered one of the Black Caps’ best-ever batsman, has claimed that he suffered racial abuse in his playing days.

The claim is made in his newly released autobiography, Black and White.

Taylor, whose mother was Samoan, said that he received comments about his ethnicity, with one teammate saying to Taylor: “’You’re half a good guy, Ross, but which half is good? You don’t know what I’m referring to.” I was pretty sure I did.’

Taylor said for most of his career he was ‘an anomaly, a brown face in a vanilla line-up’.

However, Taylor did not specify at which level of the game he received these comments and it’s not clear if this happened while he was playing international cricket.

Taylor played 112 Tests for New Zealand, 236 ODIs, and 102 T20Is. He averaged over 40 in both Tests and ODIs and is New Zealand’s highest run-getter in Tests. He also captained New Zealand in all three formats of the game.

New Zealand Cricket said it had contacted Taylor about the comments and to offer its support.

This is the latest in a series of racism scandals to hit world cricket, with recent investigations into racism in cricket in the United Kingdom coming with damning findings against the cricket establishment in Yorkshire and Scotland.

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