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 π’π’‡π’‡π’Šπ’„π’Šπ’‚π’ – 𝑰’π’Ž 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 π’‘π’–π’π’π’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’“π’†π’‘π’“π’†π’”π’†π’π’•π’Šπ’π’ˆ π‘Ίπ’‚π’Žπ’π’‚ π’Šπ’ π’„π’“π’Šπ’„π’Œπ’†π’•,” 𝒉𝒆 π’˜π’“π’π’•π’†.

“π‘»π’‰π’Šπ’” π’Šπ’” π’Žπ’π’“π’† 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’ˆπ’‚π’Žπ’† 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 – π’Šπ’•β€™π’” 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’‰π’–π’ˆπ’† 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 π’Žπ’š π’‰π’†π’“π’Šπ’•π’‚π’ˆπ’†, 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆, π’—π’Šπ’π’π’‚π’ˆπ’†π’”, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’‡π’‚π’Žπ’Šπ’π’š.”

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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