England ’keeper Bob Taylor, who turns 75 on Sunday, is an example of what persistence and attitude can do when all seems lost
One of the many quiet wicketkeepers in international cricket was England’s Robert William ‘Bob’ Taylor, who turns 75 this weekend.
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Taylor’s Test match career is fascinating. He was understudy to Alan Knott for 10 years and was rewarded in a Test against New Zealand after England’s successful 1970-71 Ashes series.
Knott got his place back in the next Test in Auckland while Taylor’s next Test for England was in 1977 against Pakistan at Lahore because Knott (arguably the world’s best wicketkeeper then) was signed up for Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket.
Bob Taylor, who played Test cricket for England till the age of 43. Pic/Getty Images
Taylor is best known in India for the famous incident which took place during the Jubilee Test at Wankhede Stadium in 1980, when India captain Gundappa Vishwanath recalled Taylor after he was wrongly given out caught behind by SN Hanumantha Rao off Kapil Dev.
Taylor returned to his crease, put on another 86 runs with Ian Botham and England ended up winning comfortably. Mike Brearley’s team were in the throes of adversity at 58 for five when Taylor first walked in to join Botham.
The Jubilee Test was dominated by Ian Botham’s century and 13 wickets. However, Taylor, it must be remembered, set a world record by taking 10 catches in that Test.
I had the good fortune of meeting Taylor at the venue of his career highpoint when India played England in the third Test of the 2005-2006 series. I spotted him just outside the press box. It was his first visit to the Wankhede since the 1981-82 Test which Keith Fletcher’s team lost. He spoke about the importance of “keeping at it” even when you are out of the team, like he was. He also dwelled on his disappointment at missing out on the 1976-77 tour of India, where Roger Tolchard was picked as Knott’s deputy only because he had to undergo surgery on his ear. The kit manufacturer had no complaints of the last-minute change because the initials on the kit bag didn’t have to be changed for Tolchard. Both were RWT.
Taylor was generous to his teammates. When Knott fancied using teammate Dennis Amiss’ bat for the Barbados Test in 1973-74, Taylor, a sign writer by profession, undertook the task of drawing the logo of Knott’s sponsor on a sticker-free bat that belonged to Amiss. Knott expressed his gratitude in It’s Knott Cricket: “The man waiting to replace me if I was dropped assisted me to prepare the bat with which I saved my Test place.”
Taylor now works for Dukes, the Test match ball manufacturers in England and follows cricket played in all parts of the globe. His admiration for MS Dhoni, whom he watched in the India stalwart’s second home Test series in 2006, is wholesome. “It is a hard job with modern-day international cricket (schedules). He is a little bit like Sachin Tendulkar and has got the drive to carry on. He is obviously a very wealthy man and there is probably no need for him to carry on playing cricket, but he just loves it and loves captaining India,” Taylor said from his Derbyshire residence.
Taylor ended his 57-Test career in 1984 with 167 catches and seven stumpings, at the age of 43.
He played county cricket till 1984, but came on as a substitute wicketkeeper in 1986 when England’s wicketkeeper Bruce French was hit on the head while batting against his Nottinghamshire teammate Richard Hadlee at Lord’s. Taylor recalled: “I was working for Cornhill Insurance and was looking after my guests when I got a call. It was from England captain Mike Gatting, asking me to come on as substitute. I thought it was a joke but he was serious,” Taylor said. There were four England wicketkeepers used in that Test – French, Bill Athey, Taylor and finally Bobby Parks, who was summoned from his Hampshire game. This was unprecedented and then they changed the law - no substitute should be allowed as wicketkeeper. Taylor always kept his wicketkeeping gloves handy. Remarkably, he used only three pairs through his entire career. According to him, one of them got stolen and one is at the Lord's museum.
It was during that summer of 1986 that India’s then wicketkeeper Kiran More interacted with Taylor and availed of his tips. “Taylor was my hero. I picked his brains because I wanted to do whatever he did. He was a complete ’keeper - technically sound, didn’t indulge in needless diving and always stood up,” More told me yesterday. He also recalled how Chandrakant Pandit was hoodwinked by the old fox in the Indians vs Duchess of Norfolk game at Arundel where Taylor stumped the Mumbai man when he thought the ball was travelling to fine leg. When Pandit departed, More warned next batsman Roger Binny, who liked to play the flick, to be careful of Taylor behind the stumps. Binny was stumped too, for a duck.
Taylor shouldn’t be only remembered for being a beneficiary in the Jubilee Test incident. He was sporting himself. Against Australia at Adelaide in the 1979-80 Ashes, Taylor nicked one down the leg side when he was three runs shy of a maiden Test hundred. There was no vehement appeal when Aussie wicketkeeper Kevin Wright caught it, but Taylor walked.
When David Gower, a teammate in 50 of the 57 Tests Taylor figured in, wrote Heroes and Contemporaries, he said this: “There is little doubt that if the world’s cricketers were to vote on the player all small boys should try to emulate, then RW Taylor would win by a landslide.”
mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
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