Famous Cricketers No 99 - Bob Taylor

The manner in which Bob was treated by the England selectors following the historic Jubilee Test in India, though not a great match is well known to all cricket lovers for he was dropped like the proverbial hot potato, and replaced by Alan Knott. One could only assume that Knott had preference on the assumption that he would score more runs, but in the four Tests that Knott played on his return his scores were 6, 7, 9, 2, 6, 3 and 3. Bairstow was then brought in for the last Test and scored 40 and 9 not out, but as a wicket-keeper could not be compared with either Taylor or Knott. There was much correspondence in The Cricketer supporting Bob Taylor and doubting the wisdom of the selectors decisions. Bob Taylor always felt that he kept his place in the England team batting at seven because of the all-round skills of Ian Botham at No. 6 allowed England to field four specialist bowlers. Alan Knott, a close friend of Bob Taylor, felt that he would never have got into the England side if Taylor had been first on the scene. In May 1975 Brian Bolus asked to be relieved of the captaincy at Derbyshire and Bob Taylor took over. Almost exactly 13 months later he, too, resigned from the position and Eddie Barlow succeeded him. Although Bob never really wanted to be captain Derbyshire won 19 matches under his leadership, 6 first-class and 13 one-day. Whilst not considered as a top class batsmen it should be mentioned that he featured in twenty century partnerships during his career. He played 543 innings scoring 10,324 runs before he made his maiden century. The next highest in the record books is A.H.H.Gilligan with 7,063 runs. During his career he recorded a “pair” in 13 matches. He was and is known as cricket’s Mr Regular Nice Guy. No-one had a derogatory word to say about him, on or off the field. Most speak almost reverently of his skill, which had been honed to a high level of perfection by discipline, dedication, self-analysis and sheer hard work. In 1973 he was voted in a poll as the cricketers cricketer where his skill was summarised by the phrase “On 19 out of 20 occasions he was in position to be waiting for the ball to arrive.” In 1978 an article by Frank Keating in The Cricketer described Bob Taylor as the best wicketkeeper of all time. Bob is very conscious of the history of the game and he named his house on the outskirts of the Potteries “Hambledon”. He was heard to say that some of his Derbyshire colleagues didn’t know why. In 1981 Bob was honoured with an MBE for his services to cricket and in 1982 received a cheque from Derbyshire for £54,000 raised at his Testimonial. On the flight home from the 1983/84 tour he decided to retire. He had found that the younger cricketers would not accept any criticism or advise from him. There was a definite difference in age and standards had changed. The other outstanding statistics of the career of Bob Taylor are:- He played in 28 Test Matches after reaching the age of 40. He has taken more wicket-keeping dismissals, 1,649 than any other cricketer with 1,473 catches and 176 stumpings. The next highest is J.T.Murray with 1,527 in a career from 1952 to 1975. He took seven catches in an innings on three occasions, once in a Test match, more often than any other wicketkeeper. 8