Sarah Jane Taylor (born 20 May 1989) is an English

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 ...

er and cricket coach. She appeared in 10

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

, 126

One Day Internationals One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four year ...

and 90

Twenty20 Internationals Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). In ...

for

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 ...

between 2006 and her retirement from international cricket in 2019 due to an

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...

issue. Taylor is the fastest cricketer, male or female, to earn their first cap in all three formats of international cricket, doing so in the space of nine days against India in 2006. She has played domestic cricket for

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Lancashire Thunder Lancashire Thunder is an English women's Twenty20 cricket team based in Manchester, Lancashire that competed in England's women's Twenty20 competition, the Women's Cricket Super League. Thunder played their home matches at Old Trafford and variou ...

Surrey Stars The Surrey Stars were an English women's Twenty20 cricket team based in South London that competed in the English women's Twenty20 competition, the Women's Cricket Super League. The Stars played their home matches at The Oval and Woodbridge Road ...

Northern Diamonds Northern Diamonds were a women's cricket team that represented the traditional areas of the Northumbria (modern), North East and Yorkshire, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic women's cricket. They primarily played their home matches ...

Welsh Fire Welsh Fire () are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Cardiff. The team represents the historic counties of Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Somerset in the newly founded competition called The Hundred, which took place for t ...

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

and

Adelaide Strikers The Adelaide Strikers are an Australian professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia that compete in the Big Bash League (BBL).Cricket Australia (n.d), Teams and Players, Cricket Australia, accessed 1 Decemb ...

. She is a wicket-keeper-batter known for her free-flowing stroke play, opening the batting in limited-overs matches and batting in the middle order in Test cricket.

Playing career

The inclusion of Taylor and her future England team-mate

Holly Colvin Holly Louise Colvin (born 7 September 1989) is an English former cricketer who played as a slow left-arm orthodox bowler and right-handed batter. She appeared in five Test matches, 72 One Day Internationals and 50 Twenty20 Internationals for E ...

in the

Brighton College Brighton College is a fee-charging, co-educational, boarding and day public school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton and Hove, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18), Brighton Co ...

boys' team caused some controversy within the MCC. On 30 June 2009, she scored 120 at a run-a-ball in the 2nd One Day International at Chelmsford, overtaking

Enid Bakewell Enid Bakewell ( Turton; born 16 December 1940) played for the English women's cricket team in 12 Tests between 1968 and 1979, and in 23 one-day international matches. A right-handed batter and slow left-arm orthodox bowler, on her figures she ...

's 118 in 1973 as the highest individual score against Australia by an Englishwoman. On 8 August 2008, she broke the record for the highest stand in women's One Day International cricket with a first wicket partnership of 268 with

Caroline Atkins Caroline Mary Ghislaine Foster (; born 13 January 1981) is an English cricket coach and former player. She was a right-handed batter and right-arm medium bowler who appeared in 9 Test matches, 58 One Day Internationals and 19 Twenty20 Intern ...

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 ...

for

against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. She went on to score 129. On 1 September 2008 she became the youngest woman cricketer to score 1000 runs in One Day Internationals when she scored 75 not out at

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

in England's 10 wicket win against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. She reached 1000 runs when she had scored 16. At the start of the cricket season she was the first woman player ever to play in the

Darton Darton is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley (part of South Yorkshire), on the border with West Yorkshire, England. At the time of the 2001 UK census, it had a population of 14,927, increasing to 21,345 for both Darton War ...

first XI. She has also been joined at Darton by

Katherine Brunt Katherine Helen Sciver-Brunt (; born 2 July 1985) is an English former cricketer who played as a right-arm fast bowler and right-handed lower-order batter. She played for England between 2004 and 2023, appearing in 14 Test matches, 141 One ...

, England bowler. She opened the batting for England in their victories in the 50 over World Cup in Australia and the

World T20 The ICC Men's T20 World Cup, formerly the ICC World Twenty20, is a biennial world cup for cricket in Twenty20 International (T20I) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was held in every odd year from 2007 to 2009, ...

in 2009. However, she pulled out of the England tours of 2010 and 2011, including the Ashes match in Australia. She won the ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year award in 2012 and 2013, and was the holder of one of the first tranche of 18 ECB central contracts for women players, which were announced in April 2014. She was named as the ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2014. In 2015, she became the first woman to be inducted in the Legends Lane at the County Cricket Ground in

Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...

. Also in 2015 she became the first woman to play men's

grade cricket Grade cricket (also known as premier cricket) is the name of the senior inter-club or district cricket competitions in each of the Australian states and territories. The term may refer to: *Victorian Premier Cricket * NSW Premier Cricket * Queens ...

in Australia, when she appeared as wicketkeeper for Northern Districts against

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

at Salisbury Oval in South Australia's premier men's competition. In May 2016, Taylor announced she had been suffering from anxiety which she said had been adversely affecting her cricket performance. She announced a break from playing to 'prolong her career'. She resumed playing in April 2017 and in June she was selected for the

2017 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup was an international women's cricket tournament that took place in England from 24 June to 23 July 2017. It was the eleventh edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, and the third to be held in England (after ...

. In the tournament, she and

Tammy Beaumont Tamsin Tilley Beaumont (born 11 March 1991) is an English cricketer who currently plays as an opening batter and occasional wicket-keeper for the national team. She is second on list of most international centuries and third on ODI centuries ...

set the record for the highest 2nd-wicket partnership in

Women's Cricket World Cup The Women's Cricket World Cup is the quadrennial international championship of Women's One Day International Cricket tournament. Matches are played as One Day Internationals over 50 overs per team. There is also another championship for Tw ...

history (275) in a 68-run victory over South Africa. Taylor's innings of 147 was her career best in ODIs. Taylor was a member of the winning women's team at the

held in England.England v India: Women's World Cup final – live!
''The Guardian'', 23 July 2017. In December 2017, she was named as one of the players in the ICC Women's ODI Team of the Year. In February 2019, she was awarded a full central contract by the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

(ECB) for 2019. In June 2019, the ECB named her in England's squad for their opening match against Australia to contest the

Women's Ashes The Women's Ashes is the perpetual trophy in women's international cricket series between England and Australia. The name derives from the historic precedent of the Ashes in cricket and, until 2013, was similarly decided exclusively on the outc ...

. In July 2019, ahead of the

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 international (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 international is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The very firs ...

matches of the

, Taylor withdrew herself from England's squad, to take time away from the game, due to mental health issues. In September 2019, Taylor retired from international cricket due to her health issues.

Coaching career and playing comeback

In an interview with

ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

in January 2021, Taylor hinted at the prospect of coming out of retirement. She said that "I've got my cricket bag at school, ready to have a net," but also " asn'tsaying yes, asn'tsaying no." On 15 March 2021, Taylor made history as the first female specialist coach for a senior English men's county team after her appointment as wicketkeeping

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

for

. In April 2021, Taylor's return to playing was announced, as she was signed by

for the

2021 season of The Hundred The 2021 The Hundred season was the inaugural season of The Hundred, a professional franchise 100-ball cricket tournament involving eight men's and women's teams located in major cities across United Kingdom. The tournament was run by the Englan ...

. She also appeared for

in the

2021 Women's Twenty20 Cup The 2021 Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2021 Vitality Women's County T20, was the 12th cricket Women's Twenty20 Cup tournament, taking place in April and May, with 36 teams taking part: 34 county teams plus Scotland ...

, and played for

as an injury replacement player. In October 2021 Taylor was appointed as assistant coach at Team Abu Dhabi, working with Paul Farbrace and

Lance Klusener Lance Klusener (born 4 September 1971) is an international cricket coach and former cricketer of South Africa. He was known for his aggressive batting and fast-medium swing bowling. Klusener was one of the best all-rounders in the world during ...

. In February 2022 it was announced that she had been appointed as assistant coach at

Manchester Originals Manchester Originals are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Manchester. The team represents the historic county of Lancashire in the newly founded The Hundred competition, beginning in the 2021 season, and playing at Old ...

for the upcoming season of The Hundred, working with both the men's and the women's sides, and had not yet ruled out returning to playing. Taylor was appointed as the England Lions wicket-keeping coach for their tour of South Africa in November 2024.

Awards

* ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year – 2012, 2013 * ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year – 2014 In November 2020, Taylor was nominated for the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for ICC Female Cricketer of the Decade.

Personal life

On 21 February 2023, she announced that her partner, Diana, was pregnant with their first child.

Playing career

Coaching career and playing comeback

Awards

Personal life

References

External links

Further reading