Interview with Chris Taylor - Part 1

Chris Taylor

You made a breakthrough at Yorkshire in 2001, having played in the Academy and Second XI for several seasons. That must have been a big moment for you and your family?

It was, Steve. I had come through the ranks at Yorkshire and done well in the seconds. I had six or seven centuries to my name for them and two days before the game against reigning champions Surrey at The Oval, I had a call from Arnie Sidebottom, to say that I was playing.

I was 19/20 and didn’t sleep between times, thinking about the big moment that I had dreamed of for so long. They had a very good all-round side and facing Martin Bicknell and Ed Giddins was a tough baptism for me. After that, I had another few games that summer, got a few starts but didn’t go on to a score to make a point.

Then your first first-class half century came the following season – another big moment?

I spent the pre-season working really hard, with the ambition of getting into the team, but it was a strong batting line-up. My first senior game of the summer, curiously enough, was also against Surrey and I remember facing Alex Tudor bowling very quickly down the hill, while Saqlain Mushtaq was turning it a lot at the other end. It was a tough baptism, but I got an unbeaten 52 and was thrilled with that, even though we were beaten by an innings and plenty.

In the next match I opened the batting against Warwickshire at Headingley. They had New Zealander Shane Bond as the overseas pro and he’d recently been ‘clocked’ at 95mph in a Test match. His first ball was a bouncer to my opening partner, Vic Craven. It went over his head and over that of wicket-keeper Keith Piper, going for a one bounce four byes.

Neil Mallender was umpiring at my end. He turned to me, pulled a face and said ‘Jesus…that was quick…’I managed another fifty against an attack that included my future Derbyshire team mate Mo Sheikh and was quite pleased with myself. Then I got to play in the Roses match, live on Sky and was out for a duck in each innings, second ball each time. Not one of my better memories!

Over the following three summers, you only got eight first-class matches. That must have been a frustrating time in your life?

Yeah, the most I got was three consecutive games, but the batting was very strong. There was Vaughan, Lehmann, White, McGrath, Lumb, Blakey – it was tough to break through into that side as a young player.

There were precious few one-day opportunities there either, fairly strange in the light of your form for Derbyshire in the format. Why was that – was it ever explained?

I was very much seen as a potential opener in the four-day game and advised to concentrate on that. I think I scored 34 centuries for the second team, and three double hundreds, yet no one at any point seemed to consider that I could adapt my game to play in the shorter formats.

In the winter of 2005-6, you moved to Derbyshire. How did that come about?

It came to a head at Yorkshire in 2005. I had a poor run with the bat, but I got engaged to Charlotte, which was the only bright spot of the summer. Then, all of a sudden, it went right and in three innings for the seconds I had consecutive scores of 160, 210 and 140-odd.

Former England skipper, Ray Illingworth was always my mentor. At that time he wrote or ‘ghosted’ a column for theYorkshire Post and he missed few opportunities to bang the drum for me. Yet no matter what I did or what he wrote, David Byas, the coach, didn’t seem to rate me.

The next time I met Illy I told him I was giving serious thought to packing it all in. He told me to wait a while and give him a few days. Apparently he gave Dave Houghton a ring at Derbyshire and a couple of days later, Dave phoned me, completely out of the blue. He told me some nice things, the sort that you always want to hear, and said that he saw me as number three at Derbyshire in all forms of the game.

He invited me down to the club and that invitation extended to my family, who all had a nice day out. It was in stark contrast to Yorkshire, where families were usually not welcome and were regarded as a distraction!

Then, all of a sudden, there was the offer of a two-year deal at Yorkshire, but I’d had enough of it by that stage and was happy to go to work with a man who had a proven reputation as a coach and man manager.

What were your early impressions of your new team mates? There were two Tasmanians in Michael di Venuto and Travis Birt for starters…

It was great. Dave Houghton was a terrific coach and I liked what he had to say. At Yorkshire it was all about Trueman, Close and Boycott – the legends. Here, the environment was much more friendly and exactly what I needed at the time. There were a few new guys. Steffan Jones, Graham Wagg, James Pipe – we all came in together and bonded really well. From a personal point of view, it was nice to be told to pad up and face the bowling machine and bowlers at the start of a net session, rather than being tagged on to the end as an afterthought.

Charlotte, my wife, quit her job as a trainee solicitor and became Personal Assistant to Peter Gadsby at Derby County. We moved into a rented flat at Mickleover and were very happy.

I was lucky enough to get runs from the start and got a hundred in my first innings for the county in the Parks against Oxford University. When I got to my century, I launched into a mad celebration that ‘Pop’ Welch still ribs me about today. It just felt so good, though, so right at Derbyshire.