Ross Taylor admits retirement has crossed his mind but he is still eyeing playing 100 Tests and competing in the World Cup in England in May.
Taylor, who has played 90 Tests, also admitted that the limited number of Tests New Zealand play could make the goal of bringing up a century of appearances in the longest form tough.
"I’d obviously love to get a 100 Tests but that’s a while away, we don’t play as many Tests as some other countries, but I must admit I do think about retirement a bit, when that is I’m not sure," Taylor told 1 NEWS.
New Zealand play two Tests against Bangladesh in February before exclusively playing white ball cricket in the lead-up to the World Cup so Taylor is looking at a period of more than a year before he could bring up a century of Test matches if he remains injury free.
"Hopefully it’s (retirement) a while away but you know your career is going to come to an end at some stage."
"Hopefully the body can stay strong and fit and still have the motivation to keep playing, if that’s the case then I’ve still got a few more years in me."
Taylor didn’t shy away from the emotions he felt as he contemplated retirement.
"I suppose there’s a lot of emotions, a lot of things go through your mind, it’s a pretty cool job you do but at the same time family is very important and spending time with them as much as you can," he said.
"The kids are getting a bit older and getting into a lot of activities that you sort of miss out on, you got to weight up all those factors."
Taylor has been in a rich vein of form over the last 12 months in the ODI format and shaped as a key man in the Black Caps’ middle order at the World Cup.
He has averaged 92 since the start of 2018 with his run of scores reading 12, 45*, 52, 1, 59, 113, 10, 181*, 80, 86*, 54, 90 and 137.
Taylor puts his good form down to an ability to sum up the match situation quickly in his innings.
"I just try sum up the situation as quick as possible, sometimes when you bat in the one day game you have a preconceived idea of what the wicket’s going to play like or how you’re going to play," he said.
"I just try and get out there and sum it up while I’m out there, it seems to be working okay at the moment."
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