'Asked Ben Stokes if he wanted to play in New Zealand' - Ross Taylor

As far as all-rounder Ben Stokes is concerned, he is the reigning Test skipper of England and has done a phenomenal job so far, winning all the Tests he has led the side. Besides, he also plays an integral role in the limited-overs format for England, especially in the Twenty20 (T20) format. At the same time, he retired from One-Day Internationals (ODIs) earlier this year, citing workload management and pressure. However, if you forgot, he is also a New Zealander by birth and has a family in the Polynesian country. Meanwhile, former Kiwi Ross Taylor has revealed that he once urged Stokes to consider playing for his birth nation.

According to stuff.co.nz, Taylor revealed in his recent book 'Ross Taylor Black & White', "He was 18 or 19 and very much a Kiwi. Over a Guinness, I asked him if he wanted to come and play in New Zealand. He was keen, so I sent a message to New Zealand Cricket CEO Justin Vaughan saying this guy Stokes was an outstanding young cricketer and interested in playing for New Zealand."

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"Vaughan replied that he could start playing domestic cricket, and we'd see where it went. I went back, saying we'd have to offer him more than that because he wouldn't be interested if it meant starting on the bottom rung of the ladder. It didn't come to anything," Taylor's extract added.

"Ben was sincere about playing for New Zealand, but NZC would've had to have acted swiftly and decisively and given him some pretty solid assurances, which Vaughan wasn't prepared to do," concluded Taylor's extract. Stokes was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, before moving to the United Kingdom (UK) at 12.