Ross Taylor at peace with coach Hesson

Wellington: Ross Taylor, who was dumped as New Zealand captain following their tour to Sri Lanka last November, broke his silence in Auckland and promptly played a straight bat to media questions surrounding his return to the New Zealand set-up. Taylor had not spoken publicly since accusing Black Caps management of lying about the process of relieving him as skipper.

Those accusations were backed up in a leaked letter by New Zealand bowling coach Shane Bond. Taylor was named in the Black Caps Twenty20 and one-day teams to face England. Taylor and national coach Mike Hesson met after the Black Caps returned from their tour to South Africa - which Taylor made himself unavailable for - but he remained tight-lipped on whether he received an apology. Taylor described his relationship with Hesson as a "work in progress", adding that he had yet to speak to new skipper Brendon McCullum. In his absence in South Africa, the Black Caps were humiliated in the tests and lost the Twenty20 series but did claim a historic one-day series victory win. Taylor admitted it was a "strange feeling" seeing the team in action without him, and he doubted his presence would have made any difference. ANI