Brian Taylor (cricketer)

Brian Taylor

Personal information
Full name	Brian Taylor
Born	(1932-06-19) 19 June 1932 West Ham, London, England
Nickname	Tonker
Batting	Left-handed batsman
Role	Wicketkeeper, Batsman
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1949–1973	Essex
First-class debut	7 May 1949 Essex v Cambridge University
Last First-class	31 August 1973 Essex v Nottinghamshire
List A debut	22 May 1963 Essex v Lancashire
Last List A	2 September 1973 Essex v Warwickshire
Career statistics
Competition First-class List A Matches 572 108 Runs scored 19093 1837 Batting average 21.79 18.74 100s/50s 9/82 1/3 Top score 135 100 Balls bowled 57 – Wickets 1 – Bowling average 30.00 – 5 wickets in innings – – 10 wickets in match – – Best bowling 1/16 – Catches/stumpings 1084/211 93/22
Source: CricketArchive, 13 May 2010

Brian Taylor, born at West Ham on 19 June 1932, was a cricketer who played for and captained Essex.

Known as "Tonker" Taylor for his forthright approach to batting and his evident enjoyment of the game, Taylor was a high-class wicketkeeper who was thought of in his early playing days as a potential successor to Godfrey Evans as England's keeper. He was named as Young Cricketer of the Year in 1956 by the Cricket Writers' Club, his first full season, though he had made his first-class debut seven years earlier. He toured South Africa with the MCC side in 1956-57 as understudy to Evans, but did not feature in any of the Test matches as Evans had one of his most brilliant Test series.

In the event, his left-handed batting did not develop as much as had been hoped, and the Test call never came. But Taylor still had a long and distinguished career in county cricket. From 1961 to 1972, he played in 301 consecutive County Championship matches for Essex, and he captained the county from 1967 to 1973, when he retired. Under his captaincy, Essex assembled the nucleus of the young team that was to bring the county its first-ever trophies in the years after Taylor retired.

In all cricket, Taylor made 1,294 dismissals, which puts him seventh on the all-time list of wicketkeepers. He also made more than 19,000 runs in a total of 572 first-class matches. He was selected as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1972. He was a Test selector for England from 1973.

He also played football with Bexleyheath and Welling and Deal Town in the Kent League and Southern League.

External links

• Brian Taylor at Cricket Archive
• Brian Taylor at Cricinfo