The former England wicket-keeper batter Sarah Taylor is making waves in her coaching stint after announcing her retirement from international cricket in September 2019. She adds another feather to her cap as she joins England Lions as a wicket-keeping coach for a training camp in South Africa.
“She’s got a huge amount of experience, she has a really nice coaching style, and she’s worked with some of the best male keepers in the international game. We’re always looking to pull the best staff together and that means a certain element of diversity,” said England’s performance director Ed Barney acknowledging her coaching style and expressing their willingness to form the best coaching staff together.
Since making her international debut in a T20I against India on 5th August 2006, her playing career for England spanned over a decade, 13 years. Through the course of her career, she established herself as one of the best wicket-keepers England has ever produced. She is also right up there on the list when it comes to the best wicketkeepers to have played the game, let alone men’s cricket.
Sarah scored 2,177 runs at a strike rate of 110.67 and an impressive average of 29.02 in 87 T20Is. Her tally of runs includes 16 half-centuries with the bat for her side in the format. She holds the record for the 2nd most number of stumpings (51 in 88 innings) in a career in Women’s T20Is. Only Alyssa Healy has more stumpings (63 in 146 innings) than her in T20Is. She also has 3rd most number of dismissals in her career (74 in 88 innings), just behind Amy Jones (81 off 94 innings) from England and the Australian skipper Alyssa Healy (126 off 146 innings) in the T20I format.
Sarah made her debut in the red-ball format on 8th August 2006 against India. She has scored 300 runs in 17 innings with the bat for her side. She made her ODI debut on 14th August 2006 against India and scored 4,056 runs at an impressive average of 38.26 in 119 innings. Her tally of runs included 20 half-centuries and 7 centuries in the format. Her best performance with the bat for her side came on 5th July 2017 against South Africa in Bristol when she scored a brilliant 147 (104 balls) with the bat. It was also the 3rd most runs in an innings by a wicket-keeper batter.
She holds the record for joint most stumpings (51 wickets in 116 innings), alongside Trisha Chetty (51 wickets in 131 innings) from South Africa, and Anju Jain (51 in 62 innings) from India. She has the 2nd most dismissals (136 in 116 innings) in ODIs after the former South African wicket-keeper Trisha Chetty (182 in 131 innings). She also has 3rd most catches (85 in 116 innings) alongside Rebecca Rolls (89 in 101 innings) from New Zealand and Trisha Chetty (131 in 131 innings) from South Africa.
She will also become the first woman to join an international men’s side in the coaching set-up when she officially commences her coaching stint, as a specialist in the keeping department. She has also previously worked with the Manchester Originals in the Hundred and Sussex at the domestic level. Notably, she made history in 2021 becoming the first woman coach in men’s professional franchise cricket after she was named assistant coach of Team Abu Dhabi for the Abu Dhabi T10 league and continues to break stereotypes.
She’ll be joined by Andrew Flintoff as the England Lions head coach, alongside Graeme Swann and former South African Dale Steyn and Neil McKenzie in the coaching set-up. Simultaneously, she’ll also take care of her commitment to the Under-19 Young Lions Squad in South Africa, including the juniors of former England legends Andrew Flintoff (Rocky Flintoff), and Michael Vaughan (Archie Vaughan) in the under-19 set-up.
(Quotes sourced from BBC Sport)
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