Blackcaps talisman Kane Williamson has become New Zealand's highest-scoring test batter early on the fourth day of the second test against England at Wellington.
Resuming on 25 not out overnight, with his team needing 24 more runs to make England bat again, Williamson took only four balls to achieve his milestone, stroking a delivery from fast bowler Jimmy Anderson to the boundary.
While the early crowd stood to honour the moment, the former captain barely acknowledged it, wandering down to tap a disagreeable spot on the pitch.
When he retired last year, Taylor had amassed 7683 runs across 112 tests, averaging 44.66 per innings. Williamson needed only 92 matches to pass that target at an average of 52.99.
With 25, he had already passed Taylor (19) for the most test centuries.
Williamson's recordbreaking knock comes, as New Zealand follow on from a first innings that ended 226 runs short of England's 435/8 declared.
At second attempt, openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway showed some steel missing from previous efforts in this series against a dominant English team, putting on 149 runs for the first wicket.
Both reached half-centuries, before Conway departed for 61 and Latham for 83. Will Young didn't last long, but Williamson and Henry Nicholls took the Blackcaps to 202/3 at stumps, with two days to survive to avoid defeat.
Nicholls hung around to take New Zealand to the brink of parity, before offering an edge to Harry Brook in the slips, off Ollie Robinson's bowling, for 29. Daryl Mitchell strode to the middle and stroked three to midwicket to finally erase the deficit.
Given his side's dire predicament, Mitchell's run-a-ball 54 seemed somewhat out of place, accelerating a match that the Blackcaps may now be chasing for victory. He eventually top-edged Stuart Broad to Joe Root, cunningly placed behind the wicketkeeper for just such a shot.
Keeper Tom Blundell (19no) has stayed with Williamson (63no) until lunch, stretching the lead to 99 runs, with their best-ever batter seemingly set for another big score.
England 435/8d
NZ 209 & 325/5 (Latham 83, Conway 61, Williamson 63no, Mitchell 54; Leach 2/106)
New Zealand lead by 99 runs at lunch on day four
