The world woke up to a new call, to a new name, on Sunday, 3rd of April, 2016. And the name was CHAMPIONS, crooning in every part of the world. The crowd painted
themselves maroon after both the Men and Women West Indies teams emerged triumphant at their respective ICC T20 World Cup 2016 editions.
It was a new dawn, a new journey for the Windies, who waited for years and years to make this day come true. Millions of hopes and prayers that went together on Sunday resulted into a historic victory for the Caribbean. This is surely going to be etched into the annals of cricket for years to come.
It was a sheer team effort that performed all the magic. But one cannot just skip this name while recalling the beautiful moments of the T20 Women’s World Cup final – Stafanie Taylor. Stafanie,who has now become quite popular – a cricket household name – has made enough strides, and given everything she had to lift the World Cup on Sunday. Enough has been published and said about the skipper Stafanie Taylor, making her an overnight hero following the historic win against the mighty Australians. We bring you some of the lesser known and interesting anecdotes from Stafanie’s life, which will either leave you spellbound or inspired.
Stafanie Roxann Taylor is just 24 years old, but old enough to hold a baggage full of accolades and achievements.
Born in SpanishTown, Jamaica, Stafanie found herself nowhere close to cricket. Stafanie’s family members were not much familiar to cricket those days. She was fond of football. It was only when she first saw her personal coach Leon Campbell practicing a cricket shot, when this new game intrigued her and she soon started playing it.
Stafanie studied in the Eltham High School in Spanish Town, where she played for the school’s male team. She also made a century for the school’s under-16 male team.
Then came a time when she had to choose either cricket or football, and continue with it for the rest of her life. “I figured I could travel the world more by playing cricket than football,” she said. And travelled she has. The girl from the small town went on her first tour to Guyana when she was just 10 years old. Since then, she has travelled to Australia, England, Sri Lanka, South Africa and most of the Caribbean Islands.
Stafanie made her international debut at the age of 17. It was no less than a dream debut, where the right hander rung the International bells by scoring a mammoth 90 off 49 balls in the very second match. This obviously piled up confidence to her game and she went on to score another half century in the 3rd and final match of the series against Ireland. It was no looking back since then.
2008:
• Made her debut in both T20 and ODI Internationals. She has so far played 90 ODIs & 74 T20 Internationals.
• Stafanie has scored 3468 runs in ODIs & 2208 runs in T20s,her ODI high score being 171 & T20 high score is 90 runs. Her talent wasn’t just limited to the bat, since she had also made remarkable feats in the bowling department by securing 108 Wickets in ODI and 67 Wickets in T20.
2009:
• In the 2009 ICC T20 Women’s World Cup,she scored half-centuries in her side’s opening two matches to become the only woman to score fifties in three consecutive Twenty20 Internationals, a feat she repeated in 2010 in a three-match series against Sri Lanka.
• Scored her maiden century against South Africa (108 not out).
• Was Awarded the Jamaican Cricketer of the Year in December 2009.
2010
• ICC Women’s Cricket challenge:scored 390 runs in five matches at an average of 97.50. Out of the 6 teams, West Indies were one of the runner ups, but Stafanie caught several eyes for her splendid performance at the International World stage.
2011:
• ICC women’s cricketer of the year – 2011: First West Indian to receive the accolade.
2012:
• ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year – 2012 – In 13 ODI matches played during the award qualifying period, Taylor scored 514 runs at an average of 46.72, and additionally took 16 wickets with heroff-spin at an average of 13.12.
2013:
• West Indies’ Women’s Cricketer of the Year by West Indies Cricket Board earlier this year in July
2014:
• Scored a brilliant 95 against mighty Aussies in Sydney on 11 Nov 2014.
2015:
• ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year – 2015 – During the award qualifying period, Taylor was the top scorer with 340 runs in 9 matches at an average of 42.50, scoring three half-centuries.
2016:
• In the recently concluded 2016 T20 World Cup, Stafanie was the highest run scorer and was named player of the series.
• 2016 – Player of the Tournament
• Will be playing for Western Storm in Kia Super League: Starts 30 July
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