Blackcaps legend Ross Taylor has revealed he was the victim of racial "insensitivity" during his illustrious career, saying comments about his ethnic background were common practice through his time with the national team.
Taylor, who is of Samoan descent, opened up on the challenges within New Zealand cricket in his new autobiography, 'Ross Taylor Black & White'.
"Cricket in New Zealand is a pretty white sport," he wrote. "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 teammates or the cricketing public.
"In many ways, dressing-room banter is the barometer. A teammate 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. In all probability, a Pakeha 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?"
Taylor retired from international cricket in 2021, but remains New Zealand's leading run-scorer in tests and one-days.
However, his success didn't deter the so-called "banter", which wasn't limited to the dressing-room, coming from Blackcaps management as well.
"Not long after Mike 'Roman' Sandle became Blackcapps manager, he said to Victoria [Taylor's wife] that, when he was manager of the Blues rugby team, he'd observed that the Māori and Island boys struggled with managing money, 'so if Ross wants to talk about it ...'
"Victoria laughed it off, and it probably didn't take Mike long to realise that, however well-meaning, he'd been a bit hasty in his assumptions.
"When I came back into the team after the captaincy drama, I found myself sitting next to [coach] Mike Hesson in the Koru Lounge at Dunedin Airport. He'd come straight from his house. 'My cleaner's Samoan,' he said. 'She's a lovely lady, hard-working, very trustworthy'. All I could say was, 'Oh, cool'.
"I have no doubt that Roman and Hess and the guys who engaged in the 'banter' would be dismayed to learn that their remarks landed with a thud.
"Let me be clear: I don't think for one minute that they were coming from a racist perspective. I think they were insensitive and lacked the imagination and empathy to put themselves in the other person's shoes.
"What to them is a bit of harmless banter is actually confronting for the targets because it tells them they're seen as being different. Instead of the message being, 'You're one of us, mate,' it is, in effect, 'You're one of them'."
Taylor also echoed former All Black and rugby league star Sonny Bill Williams' feelings that young Māori and Pasifika were being left behind in New Zealand sport.
"I know from personal experience how true that is," Taylor said.
"I'd hope that one of the takeaways from my career is that good cricketers can emerge from a Polynesian background."
"But maybe New Zealand Cricket should be putting more resources into the Polynesian community because there must be more where I came from."
