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A centurion's Tayl
Claire Taylor might be the latest inductee into the 100 club but the prolific batter is not ready to hand over the torch just yet.
The 32-year-old was presented with her 100th cap ahead of Thursday’s eight-wicket win over India at Taunton and it was fitting that she hit the winning run as the gloom descended on Somerset’s picturesque ground.
“It was a good moment,” Taylor told ecb.co.uk. “I knew it was going to happen some time on this tour but it was good to get there and good to get it out the way.
“It was quite a big moment. There were quite a lot of ‘what if’s’, like ‘what if you get out for a golden duck on the day?’ So it was nice to be out there at the end and seal the deal.
“I didn’t really think much about it (reaching 100 caps) when I started. I don’t really think ahead like that.
“There were some brilliant players in the game when I started and there wasn’t as much cricket being played. You were lucky if you played five or eight games in a year.”
Well-known for her professional approach to cricket – England coach Mark Lane tells stories of Taylor running miles before batting practice – it is that hard work and dedication which has seen her transform from a wet-behind-the-ears debutant who struggled in her first game against Australia in 1998 to one of the most feared and respected batters in the world game.
“I look back and I really wasn’t ready,” said Taylor, who studied maths at Oxford University. “I had been on the edge of the squad for about a year but I wasn’t ready to play international cricket.
“Technically and tactically I wasn’t ready to play in a side with all my heroes – Janette Brittin, Sue Metcalfe – some of the people who had won the 1993 World Cup were still playing. I was a little bit in awe.
“Then to play against the Australians who had a brilliant side – Belinda Clark, Karen Rolton, Lisa Keightley. There was a lot of awe and a lot of naivety on my part.
“They say batsmen come into their best in their late-20s. You need that time to find out certain things and work out your game plan.”
It was not until two years after her debut, at the World Cup in 2000, when Taylor had her moment of epiphany, the time when a player realises what they need to do if they want to compete with the best.
Despite hitting her first one-day hundred in that competition - 137 not out against Sri Lanka – England failed to reach the semi-finals.
“I got to the World Cup and saw all the great players in one place at one time,” she recalled. “I saw how they influenced a game, how they carried themselves, their body language. It made me realise that there was a whole new level I had to get to.
“My goal then was to become a world-class batsman but I realised that if I was to compete with the Australians and New Zealand I would have to get better.
“I was already very professional in my outlook but in order to be a better player I knew I had to be more technically able and a more effective batter. We (Taylor and Lane) work on the positives in the game such as where you can score.”
That attitude has reaped rich rewards and her seven one-day hundreds are testament to the hard work she has put in.
One of those knocks was a dazzling 156 not out against India at Lord’s two years ago. After that innings the MCC erected a large poster of Taylor at the home of cricket to go with the other superstars who have starred at the game’s most famous venue.
She now sits alongside Sachin Tendulkar, Glenn McGrath, Sir Ian Botham and Sir Vivian Richards - the latter held the highest one-day score at Lord’s until Taylor smashed it like she did the India bowling that August afternoon.
“Playing at Lord’s was a massive thing,” she said. “I had put myself under a lot of pressure to perform there as we don’t play there very often. So to perform at Lord’s and put on a show was a proud moment but it was also important because it was at the start of the series.
“But scoring hundreds when you are chasing mean more to me. Those times when your team really needs you, to bat for a long period in a chase.
“The team ethic means more to me than personal goals. I want to contribute to the game. If I can’t get us past the post then I want the next person to finish it off.”
England are currently riding the crest of a wave following their Ashes win Down Under in the winter. Since then they have beaten New Zealand 3-1 in their own back yard, dismissed West Indies, pummelled South Africa and have eyes on a whitewash against India.
If they win at Arundel on Sunday then England will have clocked up 14 consecutive wins, which would equal their best run of results.
It all bodes well for next year’s World Cup, to be held in Australia in March, and the ICC World Twenty20 in England three months later. However, while the management team are plotting ferociously for those tournaments, Taylor prefers to adopt a more ‘old school’ philosophy.
Celebrating another century during the winter
“I have been to two World Cups before,” she said. “We did not make the semi-finals in the first one and then got to the semi-finals in the second one but I did not contribute at all. I want to contribute at the next one.
“But I’m not really looking that far ahead. Let’s just get this series out of the way first. There are still things to finish in this series.
“We have a good side who are playing good cricket. We are used to winning. When you don’t have the perfect game yourself, there are still players who have something about them to get us past the post. We need 11 match-winners and it’s brilliant that so many people have put their hands up this summer – we have had seven different players of the match.
“It’s the first time in my time with England that we are selecting teams based on conditions. If we need another swing bowler, we have one. If we need another batsman, we’ve got another batsman. If we need a spinner, a quick bowler – they are all tapping on the door. We know we all need to perform.
“It’s the best England team I have played with. The team I first joined had some really great players but this is the best. It’s a young team too.”
England can boast match-winners throughout their squad meaning those holding a spot in the starting XI know they need to perform to retain their place. Taylor might have accomplished more than she dreamed of since her first one-dayer, but she retains a python-like grip on her England shirt.
“Am I still motivated? Oh God, yeah. There are still things to do but I won’t say what they are. There are a few personal goals but there are big team goals. I want us to grasp the opportunities that might come our way in the next year.”
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