Brian Taylor (cricketer)

Brian Taylor

Personal information
Born	19 June 1932 West Ham, Essex, England
Died	12 June 2017 (aged 84)
Nickname	Tonker
Batting	Left-handed
Role	Wicketkeeper, Batsman
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1949–1973	Essex
FC debut	7 May 1949 Essex v Cambridge University
Last FC	31 August 1973 Essex v Nottinghamshire
LA debut	22 May 1963 Essex v Lancashire
Last LA	2 September 1973 Essex v Warwickshire
Career statistics
Competition First-class List A Matches 572 108 Runs scored 19,093 1,837 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 0 – 10 wickets in match 0 – Best bowling 1/16 – Catches/stumpings 1,084/211 93/22
Source: CricketArchive, 15 June 2017

Brian Taylor (19 June 1932 – 12 June 2017) was an English cricketer who played for and captained Essex County Cricket Club.

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 Marylebone Cricket Club (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 took part in the first cricket tour of Bangladesh when MCC visited in 1976-77.

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

He died in 2017.

External links

• Brian Taylor at ESPNcricinfo