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Paul Taylor, the left arm seam bowler from Northamptonshire who often
shared the new ball with Curtly Ambrose in county cricket, had two
chances at Test cricket, both very brief. He toured India and Sri Lanka
with Graham Gooch in 1992-93 in the hope he could repeat the success of
fellow left armer John Lever on Tony Greig's Indian tour years 20 years
before. He took 5-46 against the Indian Board Presidents XI in Lucknow
and was chosen for the first Test in Calcutta. However, the wicket
helped spin rather than seam, and Taylor had just one wicket for 65,
with Sidhu caught by Graeme Hick. He had just three overs in the second
innings. He batted stubbornly and with more effect than many of his
betters, scoring 17 and 17 not out, but the rough caused by his follow
through was blamed for giving Chauhan, Kumble and Raju a receptive
surface for their match-winning spin.
He did not play again until the
last match of the tour, the 3rd ODI against Sri Lanka, when Aravinder
was in devastating form. Taylor bowled just three overs for 20 runs. He
was given just one more Test, the second against New Zealand at Lord's
in 1994. In the first innings he had one wicket, that of Adam Parore,
for 65 runs, and it was clear skipper Mike Atherton was unwilling to
trust his bowling after a profligate opening spell, so much so that in
the second innings he came on fourth change, when he had Stephen Fleming
lbw. However, it was his defiant batting in the company of Steven
Rhodes which enabled England to hold out for a draw. He had an
unsuccesful career with Derbyshire between 1981 and 1986 and had dropped
out of county cricket for five years before being given another chance
in 1991. (Bob Harragan)
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