Brown face in a vanilla line-up: New Zealand great Ross Taylor makes shocking racism claims in his new book

Ross Taylor, one of the greatest batters to have played for New Zealand, has opened up about facing racism in his own team's dressing room in his new book. The former New Zealand batter has made some shocking revelations stating that cricket remains "a pretty white sport in New Zealand" and that he endured racist comments which were usually considered "banter" by those involved.

Taylor, who announced his retirement from international cricket in April this year, has been an epitome of grit and unwavering commitment in New Zealand cricket. One of the most dedicated players ever, Taylor was an absolute team man and won several matches for his country with his batting heroics across all three formats.

In his autobiography 'Black & White', the former New Zealand batter, who has Samoan heritage, revealed it felt like he was 'a brown face in a vanilla line-up' in the New Zealand cricket team. Taylor also alleged he was often mistaken as a Maori or an Indian by a few in New Zealand cricket. Maori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand.

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"Cricket in New Zealand is a pretty white sport. For much of my career, I've been an anomaly, a brown face in a vanilla line-up. That has its challenges, many of which aren't readily apparent to your team-mates or the cricketing public,"Taylor wrote in his book, an extract of which was published by the New Zealand Herald.

"Given that the Polynesian community is dramatically under-represented in the game, it's probably no surprise that people sometimes assume I'm Māori or Indian," he added.

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Taylor also revealed how he had to put up with comments of racist nature in the New Zealand dressing room and that they were often slipped under the carpet as 'banter'. The former New Zealand batter said he would hesitate in calling out the individuals for their racist comments in fear that he would be accused of playing the 'race card' over so-called 'harmless banter'.

"In many ways, dressing-room banter is the barometer. A team-mate used to tell me, "You're half a good guy, Ross, but which half is good? You don't know what I'm referring to." I was pretty sure I did. Other players also had to put up with comments that dwelt on their ethnicity," Taylor wrote in his book.

"In all probability, a Pakeha [white New Zealander] listening to those sorts of comments would think, "Oh, that's okay, it's just a bit of banter." But he's hearing it as white person and it's not directed at people like him. So, there's no pushback; no one corrects them. Then the onus falls on the targets.

"You wonder if you should pull them up but worry that you'll create a bigger problem or be accused of playing the race card by inflating harmless banter into racism. It's easier to develop a thick skin and let it slide, but is that the right thing to do?," he added.

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Taylor, who is arguably one of the finest batters the game has seen, played 112 Tests, 236 ODIs and 102 T20Is in his international career, amassing 7683, 8607 and 1909 runs in the three formats respectively. He is New Zealand's leading run-getter of all time in both ODIs and Tests.