Famous Cricketers No 99 - Bob Taylor

batsman had played too soon at the off-cutter and edged it to me, it would have fallen short of my normal position to Mike Hendrick some fifteen yards back. Have pride in your work behind the stumps; be furious with yourself if you let any byes through. When standing back to reasonably fast bowlers, there’s no real reason why you should allow any byes. Lack of concentration’s often the reason. I always know exactly how many byes I’ve lost. I was proud that 1500 runs had been scored against Ray Illingworth’s side in Australia with me behind the stumps before a bye was lost, and I was annoyed when the first byes came, because they should have been wides! Afterwards the umpire, himself a former keeper, apologized to me and said he was wrong! Should the keeper captain the side? In my opinion, no. He should be the foreman on the field, the physical inspiration, the one who tries to keep things moving, while the skipper should be more detached and analytical. In my experience the mental strains of keeping wicket mean you can’t spare the time for the stresses of captaincy. I skippered Derbyshire for a couple of seasons, and although many judges thought my form behind the stumps didn’t suffer, I’m sure they were wrong. Because of batting considerations I could never really prove whether I was as good as Alan Knott at Test level. I’ve always felt my batting was underrated. I seem to do better abroad; I helped save two Tests in Pakistan by batting for a long time, and I partnered Ian Botham for a long spell when he was on his way to his maiden Test century in New Zealand. Knotty and I have always been great friends.” In 1977, Bob Taylor was selected as one of the Five Cricketers of the Year by Wisden stating “Wicket-keepers the world over will rejoice in the news that the Editor of Wisden has stepped in where England’s selectors have so often feared to tread and recognised the skill of Bob Taylor, whose artistry - there is no other word for it - behind the stumps has long illuminated the darkest hours of Derbyshire cricket. Appropriately, the honour comes after the season in which he joined the small band of wicket-keepers who have captured 1,000 victims, but one likes to think that is as much an acknowledgement of Taylor’s self-imposed high standards, discipline and courteous attitude down the years. Indeed it is a measure of his consistency that Taylor could be regarded as a cricketer of any year, not merely the last one. Like many a true craftsman, he has plied his trade quietly and honestly, rarely showing extreme flashes of temperament of histrionics, making some catches or stumpings look deceptively easy, earning the admiration of team mate and opponent alike with the sheer brilliance of others and shunning acrobatics and showmanship for the sake of it. For day in, day out diligence and efficiency, he has been without peer in the world for some years and would clearly have graced the England team but for Alan Knott, whose ability with the bat has often swayed the selectors, not least when his performances behind the stumps have fallen short of his own high standards. His attention to fitness and ultra-professional approach probably stem from his experience in 1964 when he damaged an ankle playing football (he was with Port Vale at the time) and, having told Derbyshire he had slipped on the escalator at Lewis’s in Hanley, missed the first seven matches of the season. Laurie Johnson, his replacement, did so well that Derbyshire were tempted to leave Taylor out indefinitely and play an extra batsman. Taylor now recalls that he might have quit there and then if they had gone ahead. Fortunately, he was reinstated and his only other lengthy absence came in 1967 when he edged a ball from Jack Birkenshaw into his eye, suffered a detached retina and had to lie on his back for three weeks, wondering if his career was finished. Happily, it was anything but over. Taylor continued to embellish his outstanding natural ability with hard work and a willingness to learn. He had ten 6