64 Facts About Claire Taylor

Samantha Claire Taylor was born on 25 September 1975 and is a former cricketer who represented England more than 150 times between 1998 and 2011.

Claire Taylor did not play cricket until the age of 13, but four years later made her county debut.

Claire Taylor made her international debut in 1998, and within two years was a regular in the team.

Samantha Claire Taylor was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire on 25 September 1975, as part of a sporting family: her father played rugby, and her mother played hockey.

Claire Taylor attended Dolphin School in Hurst, Berkshire, where she initially played softball, participating as the only girl in the school team.

Claire Taylor did not play cricket until a summer camp at the age of 13, but thereafter improved to such a level that she captained the Dolphin School cricket team, playing alongside the boys.

Claire Taylor subsequently moved to The Abbey School, Reading for a short time, and finally Kendrick School.

Claire Taylor was awarded a place at The Queen's College, Oxford to study Mathematics in 1994.

At Oxford, Claire Taylor earned three blues for hockey, and three half blues for cricket.

Claire Taylor played for the college men's cricket team, which included Iain Sutcliffe, who later played over three hundred county cricket matches.

Claire Taylor had been making intermittent appearances for England at various age group levels for the previous five years, and in September 1997, she scored 85 for England Under-21s against the touring South African side.

Claire Taylor finished the 1998 women's County Championship with two strong batting performances: she struck her second century, scoring 103 runs against West, followed by 65 runs against Surrey.

Claire Taylor retained her place in the England squad for the series against the touring Indian team in 1999.

England struggled in the series, and Claire Taylor was one of a number of inexperienced players in the squad who "failed to seize their chance", according to the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack report.

The tour was a failure for the team: they lost all nine international matches, and their only win was a warm-up match against Wellington, in which Claire Taylor scored 83 runs.

Claire Taylor secured another half-century in the second ODI against New Zealand, scoring 56 runs after opening the innings.

The batting was once more culpable, but Claire Taylor provided some relief.

Claire Taylor scored 267 runs in the tournament at an average of 66.75, ranking her among the top ten batsmen.

Claire Taylor struck her first century in international cricket; scoring 137 not out against Sri Lanka.

Claire Taylor was praised as the only highlight of the English batting; her innings of 50 not out was the highest score by her side in any of the ODIs.

Ahead of a tour by the England women to New Zealand and Australia, Claire Taylor competed in the State League, a one-day competition in New Zealand, for the Canterbury Magicians.

Claire Taylor finished the tournament in the top-five batsmen, scoring 252 runs at an average of 42.00.

Claire Taylor repaid the faith shown in her, striking centuries in both Test matches against South Africa.

Claire Taylor competed in the State League for the second consecutive year in early 2004, and finished with the second-most runs in the competition, scoring 401 runs at an average of 44.55.

In preparation for the 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Claire Taylor played her third and final season in the State League, though her 229 runs at an average of 38.16 were the lowest she achieved in any year of the competition.

Claire Taylor scored 136 runs from 128 balls, and shared century partnerships with both Edwards and Clare Connor to help England record a large victory.

Claire Taylor made little impact against India in the next match, but then scored 55 not out against South Africa and 46 against New Zealand to help ensure England's qualification for the semi-finals.

Cricinfo reported that Australia were "undoubted favourites" for their semi-final clash with England, and that Claire Taylor would be one of her side's key players for the contest.

Claire Taylor finished the tournament as one of the top-three batsmen by both runs-scored and average, aggregating 265 runs at 53.00.

Claire Taylor suffered a duck in the match, and only a century by Arran Brindle rescued a draw for her side.

Claire Taylor finished the five-match ODI series as England's leading run-scorer, totalling 325 runs at an average of 65.00.

Claire Taylor only scored 76 runs in the seven ODI matches, and made scores of five and three in the Test.

Claire Taylor reached her fourth and final century in a Test match in the second innings, scoring 115 runs to put England into a potentially match winning position, though the match finished as a draw.

Batting at number three, Claire Taylor was called upon early, after opening batsman Edwards was run out in the third over.

Claire Taylor was dropped twice in quick succession during her innings, but continued to reach her century from 110 balls.

Claire Taylor had a relatively quiet domestic season in 2007, ranking sixth amongst run-scorers in the Super Fours, having passed 50 runs just once, and despite ranking second by both runs scored and batting average in the County Championship, Taylor only scored two half-centuries in her five appearances in that competition.

England started the summer with four Twenty20 matches, one against South Africa and three against New Zealand, in which Claire Taylor made three scores of 20 or more, but did not reach a half-century.

Claire Taylor top-scored for England in their Twenty20 defeat with 34 runs from 32 balls.

Claire Taylor made a similar score in the first ODI match against the hosts, but in the second match both Taylor and Edwards were out for ducks in a heavy defeat for England.

Claire Taylor scored an unbeaten half-century in the second innings to help England to retain the Ashes.

Claire Taylor carried her good form into the subsequent series against New Zealand, starting the second leg of their trip with a half-century against New Zealand A in a warm-up match in which she was acting captain.

Claire Taylor scored a half-century in the third ODI of the series, and 34 runs in the fifth to finish as England's leading run-scorer of the tour, scoring 342 runs at an average of 48.85 from the nine ODI matches in Australia and New Zealand.

Claire Taylor struck 7 fours during her 70-ball innings and scored 83 runs.

Claire Taylor reached a landmark during the third series of the summer, making her 100th ODI appearance, against India.

Claire Taylor was identified as one of England's key players in a preview of the tournament, and she set up victory for England in their opening match against Sri Lanka with her eighth ODI century, her third in successive World Cup matches against Sri Lanka.

Claire Taylor asserted her dominance once more in the second match, against India, scoring quicker than a run a ball for her 69 not out, to help England chase down a modest total in under 40 overs.

Not required to bat against Pakistan, and dismissed for 19 against New Zealand, Claire Taylor helped secure England's place in the final with a rapid 65 runs, including 2 sixes and 6 fours, against the West Indies.

In England's final match of the group stages, Claire Taylor top-scored with 49 runs in a dead rubber loss against Australia: Australia could not qualify for the final, and England were already through.

Claire Taylor finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer, having made 324 runs, and her batting average was the highest amongst batsmen with over 100 runs.

Claire Taylor was one of five England players to be named in the team of the tournament.

Claire Taylor was named as player of the tournament, and having only been dismissed once, finished with a batting average of 199.00.

In England's subsequent series against Australia, Claire Taylor struggled for runs, scoring 79 runs across four ODI innings, and being dismissed for under 20 runs in each innings of the only Test match.

Claire Taylor opted to miss the tour of the West Indies in late 2009 to focus on her work commitments.

Claire Taylor returned to action for England in the 2010 Women's World Twenty20, hosted by the West Indies.

Claire Taylor scored 24 runs in the tournament at an average of just 8.00.

Claire Taylor finished as England's leading run-scorer in the ODI series, scoring 166 runs at an average of 41.50, including half-centuries in two of the matches.

Claire Taylor sustained a shoulder injury during the second warm-up match of their subsequent tour of Australia, which ruled her out of the rest of the visit.

Claire Taylor's injury had healed by the start of the 2011 season, but Taylor failed to make a significant impact on England's first two matches of the Twenty20 Quadrangular series, against New Zealand and Australia.

Claire Taylor made at least 30 runs in three of her four innings of the tournament to finish among the top run-scorers in the series, which was won by England.

Claire Taylor finished her career with batting averages in excess of 40 in both Test and ODI cricket, and at the time of her retirement she trailed only Charlotte Edwards in ODI runs scored.

Claire Taylor continued to represent Berkshire until the conclusion of the 2011 season.

At the time, it was unusual for a member of the England women's team to have individual coaching sessions, and Claire Taylor had to pay for the meetings herself.

Claire Taylor was the first woman to be selected as Wisden's Cricketer of the Year, in 2009.

Claire Taylor was named as the England and Wales Cricket Board's Women's Player of the Year in May 2009.