Tests need something different and Championship should help, says Ross Taylor

After losing the World Cup final in an unfortunate manner, New Zealand will start a new journey altogether as the Kane Williamson-led side will take on Sri Lanka in a Test match in Galle. This will also be the beginning of the World Test Championship (WTC) for the Kiwi nation and the team has an easier draw, to begin with. The new format also has enough to be excited about and Ross Taylor couldn't wait for the tournament to begin.

"I'm excited. The Test Championship is a new concept. Names and numbers on your backs, but Tests need something different and I believe this can give it a bit of a kick-start and liven it up. Time's a bit of a healer, and we've got new personnel who didn't play in the final and are looking forward to this," Taylor said," stuff.co.nz quoted Taylor as saying.

Each of the Tests in the series will have 60 WTC points on offer and considering Sri Lankan conditions are an anomaly to New Zealand's brand of cricket, it is going to be a challenging proposition. However, New Zealand are the No. 2-ranked team in Test cricket, behind only India in the rankings, and are coming off five consecutive series victories in the longest format. New Zealand won a Test in 2012 at the same P Sara Oval and if that works as an inspiration, Taylor is ready to pack it all in the bag.

"Going over to Sri Lanka and playing Test cricket... it's a pretty hard place to play, but we've had success in the past. Obviously spin is going to play a bit part. We've picked four spinners [legspinner Todd Astle, off-spinner William Somerville, and left-armers Ajaz Patel and Mitchell Santner] but the team is a very settled line-up. And don't underestimate how pace plays a part. We won there in 2012, and it was pace that did the majority of the damage. We've just got to assess the conditions once we get over there."