Clare Elizabeth Taylor (born 22 May 1965) is an English sportswoman, the first woman to have played on a World Cup team in both

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. She represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at both cricket, as a member of the winning

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

cricket team in 1993, and football ( World Cup 1995). Taylor attended Moor End Academy, her name was previously on the athletics record board but it has since been removed. Taylor was the first bowler for England to take 100 wickets in WODIs. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2000 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours were announced on 19 June 2000 to celebrate the Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: Australia (12 June), New Zealand (13 June),New ZealandThe Queen's Birthday Honours 2000(13 June 2000), ' ...

"for services to Cricket, Association Football, and to Hockey."United Kingdom:

Football career

Taylor began playing at age 11 and after answering a

Women's Football Association The Women's Football Association (WFA) was the governing body of women's football in England. It was formed in 1969 and was disbanded in 1993, as responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the game of women's football in England passed to t ...

advert in ''Shoot'' magazine, started playing for Bronte Ladies. Her England debut came in a 2–0 defeat to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

on 16 December 1990. When Bronte were relegated, Taylor moved to Knowsley United, joining in preference to the dominant

Doncaster Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an England, English women's association football, women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's admi ...

because she wanted the challenge of playing for a developing club. Taylor played for Knowsley United in the

1992–93 WFA Women's National League Cup The 1992–93 Women's National League Cup was a football competition in England organised by the Women's Football Association. It was the second edition of the competition, which was later run by the Football Association as the Women's Premier Lea ...

final, at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

, and two months later in the

Cricket World Cup The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup is a quadrennial world cup for cricket in One Day International (ODI) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament is one of the world's most viewed sporting events and consid ...

final at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

. Knowsley United became Liverpool Ladies shortly after losing the 1994 FA Women's Cup Final to Doncaster Belles. Taylor's team, Liverpool, were also beaten in the following two seasons' FA Cup finals, by

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

(1995) and

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

(1996) respectively. During her amateur sporting career, Taylor was employed by the

Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

, though she noted: "The amount of time I spend away on unpaid leave has got beyond a joke." Although Taylor preferred football to cricket, she focused on cricket after being dropped from the England football team. She was allotted 82 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England’s inaugural international.

Cricket career

One of the best bowlers in the women's game, Taylor represented the

England women's cricket team The England women's cricket team represents England and Wales in international women's cricket. Since 1998, they have been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by the Women's Cricket Associatio ...

from 1988 until 2005, and was an

team member when they won the 1993 World Cup final at

Lord's Cricket Ground Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

References

External links

*
Career highlights from webbsoc.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Clare 1965 births 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players English women cricketers England women One Day International cricketers England women Test cricketers English women's footballers England women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Liverpool F.C. Women players Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire Cricketers from Huddersfield Otago Sparks cricketers Yorkshire women cricketers Women's association football defenders Bronte L.F.C. players Footballers from Huddersfield