Bangladesh coach wants Ross Taylor’s last series to be ‘as miserable as possible’

Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo said they will try to make Ross Taylor’s farewell to test cricket “as miserable as possible” when they take on New Zealand in a two-test series beginning in Mount Maunganui on Saturday (January 1).

Former captain Taylor will play his last tests in the home series against Bangladesh before wrapping up an international limited-overs career against Australia and the Netherlands over the home summer.

“We know he’s a quality player and a lot of bowlers will be glad to not have to bowl to him anymore,” Domingo told reporters on Friday (December 31).

“We want to try to make sure he doesn’t have a great send-off — we want to make sure his send-off is as miserable as possible.”

Taylor is New Zealand’s highest run-scorer in both tests (7,584) and one-day internationals (8,581) and Domingo expects the 37-year-old will want to go out in a blaze of glory. “We know we have to bowl well to get him out these next couple of weeks because he’ll be determined to finish off well,” the coach said.

“Every quality player wants to finish their career on a high and leave on their own accord, so I’m sure he’ll be up for putting some big scores up over these next couple of weeks.”

World test champions New Zealand are without regular captain Kane Williamson, who is nursing a nagging elbow injury, and Tom Latham has been put in charge. They will welcome back fast bowlers Trent Boult and Neil Wagner but Latham said they were yet to make a call on whether to play Rachin Ravindran or Daryl Mitchell.

“We will make the decision on the all-rounder spot tomorrow,” Latham said.

“We will have five batters up-front and the four-seamers that have done really well for us in these conditions”.