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After signing a short-term contract with Middlebad County, Black Caps drummer Ross Taylor will have a new opportunity to learn English conditions before the World Cup.
New Zealand cricket has released the 35-year-old to play a few days with the London franchise, who play their home games at Lord's.
HAGEN HOPKINS / GETTY IMAGES
Ross Taylor celebrates his double century against Bangladesh at Basin Reserve last month.
The contract means that Taylor will miss two of the three Black Caps training camps at the NZC's High Performance Center in Lincoln, near Christchurch, starting April 15th.
He will also be unavailable for the XI games of New Zealand in Australia.
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However, NZC High Performance Director Bryan Stronach said Taylor was blessed.
"This is a good opportunity for Ross, and Gary Stead and I agree that playing cricket in English conditions will only improve his preparation for the World Cup," Stronach said.
"Ross is a very experienced player who knows what works best for him and will be good for Black Caps too."
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Bryan Stronach, executive director of high performance cricket in New Zealand, said the deal would help the Black Caps.
Taylor will leave for London in two weeks and play five round-robin matches for Middlebad, with the potential for a quarter and semifinal on the second weekend of May.
The Black Caps will leave for the World Cup on May 19th.
They put a great virtue in the selection of players who know English conditions.
Of the 15 names played by Stead on Wednesday, 13 of them played county cricket at least at Twenty20 level.
AP
Ross Taylor with coach Gary Stead announcing the New Zealand World Cup squad.
"Our entire potential World Cup team has a lot of experience there over the last three years, it understands the grounds and conditions and has commented on us," Stronach said.
"We also had coaches and support staff who spent a lot of time there and understand it well enough."
Taylor had a season in Nottinghamshire last year while the Black Caps face a big win against India at Trent Bridge on June 13th.
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