His 70 in 159 minutes, before Graeme Swann's flight deceived him 2.3 overs before stumps on the fourth day of the second test, at least offered the prospect of saving the test.
As gloom enveloped the ground, he played in a positive fashion, disciplining himself to working the ball predominantly between cover and backward point. He had an lbw escape on review at 47 and a reversed caught behind decision off Swann at 60. He also has multiple bruising to his right bicep which he described as "like a little tattoo, three next to each other, 1cm apart" but at least he resisted.
"It comes down to individual application and being able to say you gave yourself the best chance," Taylor said. "Cricket's a tough game. You nick off every now and then but as a batting unit we've got to be a lot tougher on ourselves. We've let ourselves down in the last three innings.
"My approach was to try to get to the end of the day to give ourselves a chance. That's all I did, go out, play straight with some instinct and I felt pretty comfortable. I was disappointed to get out after doing the hard graft."
Questions over New Zealand's inability to bat more than a couple of sessions away against England will endure.
After a decent home series, the visitors suddenly lack the skills to cope with either Graeme Swann when he gets near the left-arm footmarks or England's pace trio whether they are swinging, seaming or generating steepling bounce at the body. Eyes will be trained on how the batting department, led by Bob Carter, counters such regular implosions.
The test futures of Martin Guptill, Peter Fulton and Dean Brownlie will come in for scrutiny ahead of the next test series against Bangladesh in October and the home summer against the West Indies and India.
Guptill only played in the second test to average two but, with at least one of his 31 matches against every test-playing nation, he averages less than 30 against all but Bangladesh (two innings at 245), West Indies (four innings at 69.25) and Zimbabwe (three innings at 53.33). The cricketer of the year will likely be forced to concentrate on limited overs for the immediate future with a fit B-J Watling worthy of retention and Brendon McCullum moving back up the order.
Fulton's assessment might seem harsh after his golden return over summer with two centuries at Eden Park. However, he will be charged with only being able to bat on home wickets. His tour record of 67 runs at 9.57 reads ominously. Still, he has been the best opening candidate domestically. There are few alternatives other than returning to Aaron Redmond, Michael Papps, Daniel Flynn or perhaps experimenting with Jeet Raval.
Brownlie showed resolve during the second innings at Headingley only to get a brute from Steve Finn which he gloved to gully. He lasted 96 minutes for 25 in a fourth wicket partnership of 79 with Taylor.
However, he is still under the microscope for a lack of runs outside the hard and fast wickets of Australia and South Africa. New Zealand Cricket have persevered by sending him to India to practise against spin, but the way Swann bowled him between bat and pad in the first innings was nightmarish.
- By Andrew Alderson of the Herald on Sunday in Leeds
