Taylor Transferred To Wellington

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32306, 26 May 1970, Page 17

Taylor Transferred To Wellington

Canterbury cricket has suffered some sharp reverses recently, injuries threatening the continuation of R. C. Motz and G. T. Dowling in firstclass cricket; now B. R. Taylor has been transferred to Wellington.

Taylor, who works for an insurance firm, is being transferred on promotion, and he will leave Christchurch some time before the start of the next cricket season.

Canterbury has had few more colourful cricketers than Taylor, whose rise to international cricket was as swift as it was dramatic. In the 1963-64 season he played for the New Zealand under 23 team, his introduction to first-class cricket. In 1964-65 he played twice for Canterbury, coming into the side for the last two matches of the Plunket Shield season, because R. C. Motz was injured.

1 He was chosen for New Zealand’s long 1965 tour iwhen G. A. Bartlett with1 drew. And in the second : match of that tour, B. W. Sinclair was ill on the morning of the test, Taylor played his first game for his country, and became the first cricketer

to score a century and take five wickets in an innings in his test debut.

Since then, Taylor has been a regular New Zealand representative, and he has given Canterbury tremendous service. Quite unpredictable not only in performance, but in method, he has achieved some extraordinary feats. He played a major role in Canterbury becoming the first New Zealand eleven to beat an Australian team, and his century against the West Indies at Auckland last year was a memorable display of hitting.

In common with most allrounders, Taylor has rarely been able to score heavily and take wickets in one and the same match. But anyone who has watched New Zealand cricket during the last six years knows well that if

I Taylor bowls below his best, he will make runs.

And if he is out early, it is not much short of certain that he will bowl with the accuracy and fire which, on his day, make him a bowler far above the average.

BIG INTEREST Taylor, a very cheerful and likeable young man, has tremendous gifts, although there are times when he does not use them fully. But there are none more exciting to watch, whether he is batting or bowling. Taylor varies in mood between the classical left-hand batsman and the vigorous, almost bucolic hitter. But he is always a batsman who looks for runs avidly; and although at times his bowling run-up looks laboured and weary, there is never anv knowing when he will produce the ball which will defeat the well-set, competent batsman. FINE RECORD His records speaks for itself. In shield matches, he has made 722 runs for Canterbury at an average of 31.4 and taken 63 wickets at a cost of 20.5 runs each. In his first-class career, he has scored 2829 runs at 25.7 and taken 226 wickets at 25.3. He does not always look spritely in the field, but he is a fine catcher, and has brought off some remarkable dismissals.

The tall and rangy Taylor has become one of the most popular players to have worn the New Zealand cap. Test sides have had few players more capable of tearing good bowling to shreds, or of removing top opposing batsmen rapidly. Canterbury will miss him badly.