England’s newest sensation is a teenage wicketkeeper who’s among the youngest to have made an ODI century
Jenny Thompson10-Feb-2008
Sarah Taylor in flight © Getty Images
Ellyse Perry may be Australia’s teenage rising star and the one who’s set everyone talking, but England have a young allrounder they can boast about too. Sarah Taylor, the 18-year-old wicketkeeper-opening batsman, has already played 19 ODIs, with a top score of 101, and is one of the youngest players to make a century.The hundred was against the world champions, Australia, too, and was a gritty one. She survived a roughing up and being hit on the collarbone by the then-fastest bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick. Taylor, not yet 18, won the battle.Clare Connor, her club- and Sussex team-mate and former England captain, spotted Taylor’s potential at 12, and offered her a scholarship to Brighton College that was named after Connor. Taylor went on to play in the first XI boys’ team, an experience that toughened her up. Connor also bestowed the nickname “Squirt”. Taylor was small at 14, but within a year she could have been renamed “Spurt”, so quickly did she grow. “Squirt just stuck,” she says, smiling.In netball she changed from being a short, nippy wing attack to a willowy goal defence, but most importantly, her batting, which was already technically correct, suddenly gained eye-catching power. “It was always about timing,” she says. “I was never a big hitter of the ball, but it’s come with age.”From there she went on to her ODI debut at Lord’s against India. While she didn’t bat, she gained her first victim behind the stumps.A confident keeper, she prefers geeing up her team-mates to sledging, at least these days. When playing for Brighton College – having knocked the regular keeper off his spot, as well as averaging 41 – along with fellow England team-mate Holly Colvin she would say to opposition batsmen: “We’ve got you in a girlie sandwich.” Such chutzpah will see her far.Taylor has been sharing the gloves with her hero Jane Smit but latterly taking precedence. It’s a shame injury forced Taylor to miss the Twenty20 at the MCG, where Perry, a natural talent who captivates spectators wherever she plays, took the chance to shine, impressing a whole new audience of nearly 30,000.The problem, of course, is getting in front of a big audience in the first place. A potentially massive stage is the men’s Twenty20 world championship in England next year. The women’s World Cup is also next year, in Australia, but TV exposure is likely to be far, far greater in England. Sky already televises at least two England women’s matches in the summer, while this tournament should sit alongside the men’s.Taylor has already seen the effect of passing trade. In Bath last year, two Twenty20s against New Zealand were staged and intrigued walkers stopped to look over the low iron fence. First they stared, then they gawped, and finally, entranced, they paid the entry fee and came in to watch. She did not disappoint, with 43 from 33 balls and 52 not out from 50.Twenty20 is seen as the future of women’s cricket, but to be a success and to make people want to come back, the game needs its stars. Taylor is one and has every chance to develop into a huge attraction, considering she has vowed to concentrate only on cricket for the next two years, suspending university or career interests. But the need for a career is always at the back of the mind and she has already expressed an interest in web design. The women are still amateurs and Lottery funding, divided into living and sporting costs, can only take them so far. Taylor manages to rent a house in Loughborough with team-mate Katherine Brunt, but she admits she’s had to learn how to manage the funds.It would seem about time the ECB and other boards stepped up their funding so players can make a proper living from the game. Some may argue the women don’t attract enough money at the moment, but they need to be given the chance, through exposure and funding, to impress in the first place. Then the sponsorship and TV deals could come.Otherwise cricket will lose its players to jobs or more lucrative sports. The game recently shed the South African wunderkind Johmari Logtenberg, who is chancing her arm at golf, where the financial rewards are massive. Despite never having played golf before, she is trying the sport because cricket hardly pays, and the absence of her batting brilliance is a huge loss.Perry also appears in international football and could earn much more in that game, though she hasn’t had to make the choice yet. “She’s only going to get better, which is scary,” Taylor says. “She’s got to have the backing from cricket and it’s important we keep players like her as we’re always wanting to raise the profile. I’d be disappointed if she went to play football.” New Zealand’s Suzie Bates, yet another electric player, is missing the England and Australia series next month because of basketball commitments.Taylor, who has given up county tennis and hockey, does not have any other distractions – at the moment at least. Now she’s concentrating on the rest of the series in Australia and she and Perry are ready to sparkle.
