Interview with Chris Taylor - Part 2

You started the summer of 2006 brilliantly, with a fine century against Glamorgan at Cardiff. What are your memories of that innings?

The main one was a completely misinterpreted reaction to being dismissed!

Steve Stubbings and I batted really well and we reached 247-1 before Stubbo went for 97. Then Travis Birt went first ball and there was a mini-slide – we were suddenly five down for 251. That brought in Hasan Adnan. The two of us were really good mates, often eating out together with our respective partners.

I was on 120 and seeing it like a football. I played Robert Croft (I think) down to long on for an easy single and just strolled through. The thing was, Hasan had switched off – or hadn’t switched on – and I got down the non-striker’s end to find him still standing there.

We kind of circled each other as we decided who was going to go, which made it hard for the umpires to work out if we’d crossed. They eventually said that one of us had to, and Hasan said it wasn’t going to be him, as he was playing for a contract. So I had to go and as I walked off, lifted my bat playfully as if to hit him. There was nothing in it at all, although I was disappointed to get out when I was so well set.

Dave Houghton was furious, especially when Hasan was out soon afterwards and it was pretty uncomfortable in the dressing room.

Next day, going to the ground on the team bus, I turned to the sports pages of the newspaper and there was a big headline ‘Taylor looks to strike partner’. Neither of us could believe so much had been made of it, but when we got to the ground, the umpires said that they had no intention of reporting us. They were close enough to realise that there was nothing in it whatsoever.

The highlight must have been an early century against Yorkshire at Headingley in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy, a game we won by 21 runs?

That was the innings that gave me the most satisfaction in my career. We got there on the day and all the sights, sounds and smells were exactly as I remembered them – just how I’d pictured it would be.

Yorkshire were a good team and Michael Di Venuto went early, but I felt right from the time I got to the middle. Stubbo and myself had another big stand and whatever shot I played seemed to come off. I still have a copy of the Radio Leeds commentary and can just about recite their coverage of reaching my ton by heart.

I remember turning to the Western Terrace, where my family were sitting, and waving across to them, then I kissed the Derbyshire badge on my shirt, which seemed a natural thing to do. It was the most wonderful, overwhelming feeling and I felt amazing. The Yorkshire lads were generous in their comments and applause and it was the best day of my career.

I suppose I’d made a point…

Perhaps an even better innings was the century against Durham at Derby, when we chased down a target of 275 in 50 overs and won with eight balls to spare?

Yes, that’s right. While the Yorkshire innings was the one that gave me the most satisfaction, I don’t think I ever played so well as against Durham.

Ottis Gibson was their overseas and they had a good attack. Their batting was impressive too and they posted a great score in fifty overs. We did OK, but when I walked out to bat at 92-3 I was conscious of people moaning and grumbling on the pavilion balcony. They’d pretty much written the game off.

I decided just to play my shots and go for it and everything hit the middle. I had great support from Ant Botha and Graeme Welch and we won with eight balls to spare.

In the dressing room afterwards, I sat there thinking I could play for England if I batted like that on a regular basis. Dave Houghton came over and told me it was one of the best one-day knocks he’d ever seen, then Martyn Moxon, the Durham coach, did the same.

It was a terrific feeling.

There were another two centuries that summer and you missed a thousand runs by just under a hundred. How did you feel at the end of it? Pleased you had established yourself, or disappointed at missing the landmark?

It has always been the benchmark against which a batsman is judged and I missed it by less than a hundred runs. I’d probably have got there, but I missed three matches with a broken finger, when someone accidentally slammed a car boot shut on my hand at a wedding!

I remember at the end of season dinner in the Lund Pavilion, going out on to the balcony with Dave Houghton and chatting about the season. My Dad was there too and it was a great night. Dave told me that if I carried on in that vein I could play for England. There were stories that Geoff Miller was keeping an eye on my progress and a Lions tour could be in the offing if I kept the impetus going.

It gave me an incentive for the second season, when I was on an improved contract after the success of that first summer. My goal for that second season was to push myself into the England reckoning and become a candidate for the Derbyshire captaincy, which had quickly become a major ambition for me.

Yet there were even better scores in the one-day game, where you batted quite beautifully, with 564 runs at 63 in just thirteen innings, second in the national one-day averages.

Yes, that shocked a few people in Yorkshire! I felt in good nick all summer and I was very pleased by the end of it. I’d cleared 1500 runs in all cricket and I had to be pleased with that, in what was effectively my first full season in the first-class game.

Things changed that winter though. Michael Di Venuto left but was replaced by Simon Katich and Ian Harvey. On paper, that didn’t look to weaken the side?

No, but the atmosphere changed. There were two factions, effectively the Aussies and the rest and in my opinion there were too many overseas players. Besides Harvey and Katich, Michael Dighton came in on a UK passport and was told he was going to be batting at three, which had been my spot. There were a few occasions where the top six were all born overseas – there was also Greg Smith, Ant Botha and Steve Stubbings. It left the English lads feeling a little left out. Wayne White and I were often out in the cold.

Phil Weston was another who struggled in the environment. He’d been a prolific batsman for most of his career at Worcestershire and could barely buy a run at Derbyshire. It wasn’t for the lack of talent or trying, it simply wasn’t the most productive of atmospheres.

It quickly became clear that certain factions wanted Dave Houghton out and there was support for that from some of the committee at that time. It made it a very difficult season from a number of angles.