Famous Cricketers No 88 - Herbert Wilfred Taylor

twenty in seven of his eight innings with two scores of 80 and 66 included. In the Currie Cup, which had not been suspended owing to a touring team in the country which normally had been the case, he made another century against the Orange Free State and two scores of over 50. The M.C.C. duly arrived again for 1922/23 season and Taylor was again to the fore and at this time was probably the best South African batsman of his generation. Beginning with a big hundred in the first test 176 out of 420 he made another in the fourth test and yet another in the fifth test and also made two fifties. His final season total of 623 runs was at an average of 56.63. The next season was really an anti-climax as he played only two games without any success at all. So to 1924 and another tour of England. The team although much better than the 1912 side still had it’s limitations and was woefully weak of class batting and bowling. Two early dismissals for 60 runs against Leicestershire and then 30 against England in the first test caused a lack of interest in the team and crowds were poor and although they rallied thereafter the damage was done. Still Taylor had a very good season and was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the year and again made over a thousand runs aggregating 1898 runs at an average of 42.17. Making four centuries and ten fifties he stood at the head of the batting and although four other players made a thousand runs or more only A.D.Nourse and M.J.Susskind came near him. Wisden stated that ”expert opinion was unanimous in placing him among the best of living batsmen” but the duties of captain weighed heavily on him and he was not at all his best in the Tests Catterall, another Cricketer of the year, being far more reliable. At home again for the 1924/45 season he regained some form but again was found out in the unofficial matches against S.B.Joel’s team although he made 112 against them at Durban. A break now in international matches did him good and transferring to the Transvaal he was back to his best in the Currie Cup and in two consecutive season’s made four hundreds and three fifties in seven matches. With the arrival of the M.C.C. again in 1927/28 nine double figure innings in twelve consecutive innings gave him an average of nearly forty with one hundred against England at Johannesburg and three fifties included. The following year he had two fifties out of four innings and then at the age of 39 it was off to England again for his third and last time. After making 103 against Worcester in the first match he had rather a lean time of it and apart from a fifty against Glamorgan in May he did not make another fifty till midway through June against Yorkshire. After the match against Wales at Colwyn Bay where he was dismissed for 2 and 1 Barnes getting him in the first innings at the age of 53 he made double figures in eighteen consecutive innings thereafter and was not dismissed for single figures until January 1931 a total of 24 innings. Up to this time the end of the 1930/31 season, in 285 innings he had only failed to score in nine of them. For the first and only time Taylor went to Australia and having captained the side for 42 consecutive matches gave way to H.B.Cameron. For the first three matches he could do nothing being dismissed five times for less than ten runs but against New South Wales at Sydney he made a capital 124, his only century in the country although he made another against Auckland in New Zealand. He only just failed to make a thousand runs it was not a particularly good tour for him and this was the last time he played for South Africa. After the tour he came back to England and spent the summer playing for the M.C.C. with varying success. He was invited to play for the Gentlemen v The Players at Folkestone in August and also turned out for an England XI v All India at the same ground. His final match in England was for the Rest of England v M.C.C. Australian XI again at Folkestone in September. He had a final flourish in his last three seasons returning to Natal and playing in the Currie Cup. In his only match in 1932/33 he made 158 against his former team and the following year made 71 and 107 again against Transvaal and a year later made his final century 113 against Western Province. This really marked his retirement from the game and he moved to Durban where he remained for the rest of this life but he played one last game for Western Province against the Australia touring team on their way back home. 4