Ross Taylor has broken down in tears, after becoming New Zealand's all-time leading test runscorer, a goal that late mentor Martin Crowe urged him to strive for before his 2007 debut.
Taylor ticked past Stephen Fleming's mark of 7172 test runs, as the Blackcaps crashed to a 279-run defeat at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Monday.
While speaking to media, the 35-year-old attempted to put the momentous nature of the milestone into words, but was overcome with emotion and struggled to regain composure.
Crowe, who now ranks fifth on NZ's list of runscorers, died in 2016 of cancer at the age of 53.
"My goal was to play one test," Taylor said. "It's an emotional time, because my mentor Martin Crowe, that was one of the goals he put down for me was to be New Zealand's highest test runscorer.
"To be honest, I didn't believe him, but I'd have loved for him to be here and help celebrate."
The former skipper, who started his career as a white-ball specialist, reflected on how Crowe helped him become a test batsman.
"I'd had a pretty decent one-day career, and only scored three or four first-class hundreds," Taylor said. "Twenty20 was just coming through.
"I always thought I was good enough to play one-day cricket, but test cricket was something I was never quite sure if I was good enough.
"That's why I'd seek Martin's help to become a better player than the raw, gay-abandon player I was as a youngster.
"I've had some amazing people help me out along the way - coaches and teachers and friends - so I guess it's a little thank you to them."
Taylor, whose achievement was one of few highlights for the Blackcaps during a 3-0 series loss to Australia, was presented with a bottle of wine in the SCG rooms on Monday.
Fleming was one of many former teammates to send their congratulations.
"I got a lovely message from Flem," Taylor said. "It's always a little bit of mixed emotions, after [losing] the series and then taking it off someone with the status that he has in New Zealand cricket.
"Records are meant to be broken and hopefully I can give Kane [Williamson] something to chase, then he can set the bar high for the next person."
AAP
