England captain Ben Stokes "was keen" to play for New Zealand, claims Kiwi legend

Ross Taylor has revealed he tried to convince Ben Stokes to represent New Zealand when he joined Durham for the 2010 edition of the T20 Cup.

At the time Stokes, who was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, before moving to England at the age of 12, was a teenager just starting to make his way in the game after debuting for the county in 2009.

And Taylor was impressed by Stokes' all-round abilities and asked whether he would be interested in playing for his native New Zealand, something the now England Test captain was apparently "keen on".

Writing in his newly-released autobiography, 'Ross Taylor Black and White' , Taylor revealed: "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 a really good young cricketer and interested in playing for New Zealand. Vaughan replied along the lines that he could start playing domestic cricket and we would see where it went.

"I went back saying we would have to offer him more than that because he wouldn't be interested if it meant starting on the bottom rung of the ladder. Obviously it didn't come to anything.

"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 clearly wasn't prepared to do."

However, a year before Taylor joined Durham, Stokes told New Zealand outlet Stuff that he wanted "to play for England when I'm older. I call myself an Englishman now."

And Stokes ended up making his England debut in white-ball cricket in 2011, before making his Test debut in 2013. He has since gone on to make over 200