Samantha Claire Taylor (born 25 September 1975 at Amersham, Buckinghamshire) is an English cricketer and member of the current England women's team. A determined batsman, with almost 3,500 runs in over a hundred one day international appearances, she was the top ranked female ODI batsman in the world going into the 2009 Women's World Cup. During that competition she scored her 8th ODI century, a record in the women's game.
Early life
Taylor attended Dolphin School, The Abbey School and Kendrick School before reading mathematics at the Queen's College, Oxford, where she won three blues for hockey and captained the university hockey team, and three and a half blues for cricket.[1] In addition to her sporting achievements, she is also an accomplished violinist and has a Masters degree in Mathematics.
Career
She compiled her first test century against Australia at Headingley in 2001 and scored 177 and 131 in the first two tests against South Africa in 2003. In the first women's One Day International against India on 14 August 2006, Taylor became the first woman to score a century at Lord's, and the highest limited-overs score at Lord's, with 156 not out off 151 balls.[2][3] In 2005, Taylor was the leading run-scorer in the NatWest Women's Series, scoring 325 in five innings.[4]
She was an integral part of England's World Cup winning team in 2009, being named player of the tournament after scoring 324 runs, with a top score of 101, at an average of 64.80.
Taylor was listed among the 2009 Wisden Cricketers of the Year, the first woman to receive this accolade in the 120 year history of the award.[5]
[Taylor] almost single-handedly saw England through to victory and the retention of the Ashes in Australia last year ... It would be a sin of omission, an act of prejudice, to exclude her from the accolade. [...] The England women have been the pride of the nation as far as cricket is concerned in recent years, and [Taylor's] nomination as a Cricketer of the Year is testament to the sterling effort the ladies have consistently put in.
She was not a natural batsman at the start of her career and had to work very hard with batting coach Mark Lane at improving her action.
It's hard to believe that the world's premier batsman Claire Taylor was once a bottom-handed hockey player with the wrong batting mindset, described by her coach Mark Lane as "just average."... For ten years they worked every Tuesday night in Guildford for 90 minutes from 5.30pm, with Lane's main aim to change her mindset more than anything.
She was player of the series as England won the inaugural Women's World Twenty/20 Competition in England in June 2009. A vital knock of 76 not out from 53 balls enabled England to overhaul Australia in the semi finals and she top scored in the final with 39 not out in the 6 wicket defeat of New Zealand. Overall she scored 199 runs in 5 matches, being dismissed on just one occasion.
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