In a fairly surprising move, former New Zealand cricketer and one of their most established batters, Ross Taylor, has decided to come out of his retirement from international cricket at the age of 41 to represent another national — Samoa. Ross Taylor is set to play for Samoa in the upcoming Asia-East Asia-Pacific T20 World Cup 2026 Qualifier in Oman for a shot to seal a berth in the tournament set to be played in India and Sri Lanka next year.
Former New Zealand batter Ross Taylor, who represented the Kiwis in 112 Tests, 236 ODIs and 102 T20Is, is coming out of retirement. Yes, you read that right. However, there’s a twist to the tale as he won’t be representing the BlackCaps. Ross Taylor has been named in Samoa’s squad for the Asia-East Asia-Pacific T20 World Cup 2026 Qualifier, the last step in the nation’s journey to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. The qualifying tournament will begin on October 8, 2025.
Former New Zealand captain Ross Taylor un-retiring to play for Samoa makes him the latest in a growing list of men who have turned out for more than one country.
The first dual international was all the way back in 1881-82, when Billy Midwinter played for England in a three-Test series after having played two Tests for Australia against England. He went back to representing Australia and played six more Tests.
In those early years Billy Murdoch, John Ferris, Sammy Woods, Frank Hearne, Albert Trott and Frank Mitchell did the same – playing Test cricket for Australia and England. Then there was the Nawab of Pataudi, Iftikhar Ali Khan, who played for England and India, and subsequently the instances of players who played for India and then Pakistan after the partition of the country in 1947.
In the new millennium, among the players who have represented at least one Full Member team, only 18 male cricketers are recorded to have played for two countries in international cricket before Gavin Hamilton (Scotland and England) in 1999. Since then, excluding Hamilton, who went back to Scotland and played through the 2000s, there have been 25.
To New Zealand, from New Zealand Players who played for 2 countries.
Tom Bruce became the latest to make the switch from New Zealand, to Scotland in August 2025, and is currently in action for his new team at the World Cup League 2 matches in Canada. He is not the first to make the journey, one way or the other.
Corey Anderson might be the biggest name of the lot. His Test and ODI careers, from 2013 to 2017, were entirely for New Zealand – 13 and 49 matches in each formats respectively. His 42 T20Is have been more diverse: 31 for New Zealand, and the last 11 for USA. Mark Chapman went from Hong Kong to New Zealand. Now 31, Chapman was born in Hong Kong and played for them from 2014 to 2016 before moving full-time to New Zealand, for whom he has been a regular, especially in T20Is, for the past few years.
Michael Rippon played all his nine ODIs for Netherlands but has played one T20I (out of 19) for New Zealand after making the switch in 2022. Luke Ronchi played for Australia in 2008-09 and then for New Zealand from 2013 to 2017. He became the first man to represent two Full Member countries in around two decades, Wessels having been the previous one. Ronchi played all his four Tests for New Zealand, four of his 85 ODIs for Australia and the rest for New Zealand, and three of his 33 T20Is for Australia and the rest for New Zealand.
Ross Taylor has been named in Samoa’s squad for the Asia-East Asia-Pacific T20 World Cup 2026 Qualifier, with the tournament set to begin on October 8, 2025.
Ross Taylor comes out of retirement for ICC T20 WC Qualifiers
Ross Taylor made the announcement on Instagram, making it official. He termed the decision as something more than just a “return to the game” he dearly loves.
“I’m excited. It’s been a few months in the pipeline, but obviously the team just got announced today, so I had to make it. Exciting to represent the country of my mother’s birth. I think I always wanted to give back to the Polynesian community in some sort of way, and I always thought it would be more in coaching and other avenues.
I never thought I’d play, but as the opportunity arose, yeah, looking forward to getting out there and hopefully representing and doing my best for Samoa,” said Ross Taylor, expressing his announcement to represent Samoa.
A veteran of 112 Tests, 236 ODIs and 102 T20Is for New Zealand, Ross Taylor scored more than 18,000 runs across all formats of the game, including 1909 at a strike rate of 122.37 in his T20I career. He holds a Samoan passport through his mother’s heritage. He became eligible for his second national team after a three-year standout period following his last game for New Zealand in April 2022.
The 41-year-old spoke about his preparation for the Qualifier tournament.
“I obviously haven’t played a lot of cricket like we used to, so it’d be a bit of a shock to the system, but played in some tournaments, so it’s not as if I’ve gone three or four years without having played,” Ross Taylor said.
“But, yeah, need to get up to speed as quick as I can, but that was the other thing that was nice to be able to do, you know, train for a month or so, a couple of months, just to see how the body reacted and hopefully, you know, not what it used to be at 41, but hopefully it’s good enough,” added Ross Taylor.
According to the official website of the ICC, Taylor holds a Samoan passport through his mother’s heritage. He became eligible for his second national team after a three-year standout period following his last game for New Zealand in April 2022.
For New Zealand, Ross Taylor scored more than 18,000 runs across all formats of the game, including 1909 at a strike rate of 122.37 in his T20I career. The right-hander also played seven editions of the Indian Premier League and five editions of the Caribbean Premier League.
Samoa T20 Squad: Caleb Jasmat (c), 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.
Also Read: ENG vs IND : Shubman Gill Appointed Test Skipper For Red Ball