Ross Taylor sheds tears as he discusses his record equalling Test Century

Ross Taylor has scored his 17th Test century, equalling the New Zealand record held by his mentor Martin Crowe and Kane Williamson.

The 33-year-old reached the milestone on Monday afternoon at Hamilton's Seddon Park when he straight drove West Indies bowler Raymon Reifer for four.

After a short pause to acknowledge the applause from the crowd, Taylor donned his helmet again to continue batting.

He reached the milestone off 172 balls and hit 10 fours.

Taylor has scored a Test century against all Test-playing nations except South Africa, against who he has a high score of 48no, and is 13th on the ICC Test ranking for batsmen.

Before the Hamilton match, Taylor averaged 47.46 from 82 Tests. He has scored 28 fifties.

TAYLOR'S MEMORABLE INNINGS:

* 120 v England, Hamilton, March 5, 2008 - After a miserable debut series in South Africa the previous November, Taylor enjoyed his return home. His first Test century lifted his side to a first innings of 470 and they rolled England in the fourth innings for 110 to win by 189 runs.

* 154 not out v England, Manchester, May 23, 2008 - Taylor hit five sixes in this innings, including one to move to 150. Cricinfo described Taylor as "a curious mix of the poise of Martin Crowe and Nathan Astle's frenzied brutality". However, England won the match by six wickets.

* 138 v Australia, Hamilton, March 27, 2010 - The Australians missed his wicket three times in this innings but Taylor kept swinging to reach his century off 81 balls - then the second-fastest by a New Zealander. Australia went on to win by 176 runs.

* 113 v India, Bengaluru, Aug 31, 2012 - Taylor captained the side to an innings and 115-run defeat in the first Test in Hyderabad, but he unleashed a ferocious counterattack in Bengaluru. He scored most of his century in the first two sessions - but couldn't stop India going on to win by five wickets.

* 217no v West Indies, Dunedin, Dec 3, 2013 - Taylor's first double-hundred was behind a 600-plus total for New Zealand. Remarkably he didn't hit any sixes. Taylor's innings was topped by Darren Bravo's 218 in reply and the match ended in a draw.

* 290 v Australia, Perth, Nov 13 2015 - David Warner's 253 hogged the headlines when Australia' scored 559-9dec, but New Zealand, in a rare display of outmuscling Australia, went past to score 624. Taylor's 290 was the highest score in Australia by a visiting batsman, breaking a 111-year-old record. For the second time he had scored a double-hundred without hitting a single six.

This article was first published on radiosport.co.nz and is republished here with permission.