Former New Zealand captain Ross Taylor, at the age of 41, is coming out of retirement to represent Samoa in the Asia-East Asia-Pacific regional qualifiers for the 2026 T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Oman. Taylor has been named in Samoa’s 15-man squad, led by Caleb Jasmat.
Taylor Honoured to Represent His Heritage
Announcing the news on Instagram, Taylor expressed his excitement about donning the Samoan jersey.
“𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 – 𝑰’𝒎 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒂 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆.
“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 – 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆, 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚.”
Taylor, who holds a Samoan passport through his mother, became eligible after serving a three-year cooling-off period since his last game for New Zealand in April 2022.
He retired as one of New Zealand’s greatest batters, having scored 7683 Test runs, 8607 ODI runs, and 1909 T20I runs between 2006 and 2022. Remarkably, he still ranks as New Zealand’s fifth-highest run-scorer in T20Is, despite last playing in November 2020.
Samoa Boosted by Big Names
Taylor isn’t the only experienced campaigner in Samoa’s squad. The team also includes Sean Solia, the 32-year-old Auckland cricketer, alongside big-hitting Darius Visser, who famously smashed six sixes in a single over against Vanuatu’s Nalin Nipiko in 2024.
With Taylor’s leadership and Solia’s stability, Samoa’s batting line-up looks stronger heading into a highly competitive qualifier that features Papua New Guinea, Japan, Oman, Nepal, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and Malaysia.
The qualifiers will be a massive opportunity for Samoa, who earned their spot by beating Vanuatu, Cook Islands, and Fiji in regional competition.
Samoa T20I Squad for World Cup Qualifiers
Caleb Jasmat (capt), 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.
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